Overcoming the Shadows of the Past
by insanemonkeyboy
Summary: Natsu's struggled with the darkness inside him for years, but he's done a really good job keeping it a secret. He also doesn't like the way everyone acts like Jellal's "atonement" makes everything in his past ok. What happens when Erza finds out about both of these things? Renamed because many people misinterpreted a phrase meaning "weak points in otherwise invulnerable armor'
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. They belong to Mashima.

Ok, I hadn't really planned on starting my Naza fanfiction just yet. Especially since there are so many already out there. But what can I say? Naza is my favorite pairing. I do plan to keep updating my other fics as well. Actually, my current plan is to try to finish Fiery Jade and The Size of His Heart so I can focus more on this and The Dragon Slayers of Fairy Tail, since I expect both of these to be rather long stories. I'll also be finishing up A Dragon in Fairy Hills fairly quickly.

Anyway, this is also partially a test to see if this story will work. I have other ideas for Naza stories, but in this particular version the actual romance will progress very slowly at the beginning. Also, since it will basically follow Canon (with a few minor changes) up through the end of the GMG, there will be some implied Jerza in the first several chapters. Figured I might as well prepare readers for that in advance.

Anyway, let me know if this is something I should continue. Thanks.**

* * *

Once the others are fully in the throes of their second origin release, Natsu Dragneel got up. He knew how he was expected to react, and had, in his opinion, done a great job of convincing everyone that he was truly debilitated by the pain.

He sniffed the air, ignoring the pain coursing through his body. There were faint traces of Erza's scent in the air. There was also another familiar scent, though again, only faint traces. This one was a little more difficult for him to make out. It was somebody he knew, but not well. And the scent was faint enough that he had trouble placing it.

He would have to use other clues to figure it out. It couldn't be Meredy or Ultear. This was a distinctly masculine scent. Everyone else was helpless inside the cabin. Meaning that there was only one person it could be.

 _Jellal_. Natsu's hands clenched at the very thought of the man. Jellal, who betrayed Erza and turned her friends against her. Jellal, who made Erza cry. Jellal, who gave himself to the darkness and now talked as though his obsession with killing Zeref could atone for the deeds of the past. Jellal, who Erza still loved.

He didn't realize he'd been moving. But there he was. Looking down on a secluded beach. There were Erza, and Jellal, talking quietly below him. The sounds of their voices reached his ears, but he shut out the words. He didn't want to hear what they were saying. Didn't want to hear Erza say the words he knew would rip his heart out. Never hearing her say that… It was keeping him going. Giving him hope that all was not lost.

He was staring at the bright red sunset, bleeding into the orange, and finally gray of the clouds scattered across the horizon. The colors deepened to a deep scarlet. Beautiful, like her hair. He spared another glance at the two on the beach. And immediately wished he hadn't.

They were on the ground now. And Erza was moving to kiss him. Natsu's fists clenched at his side, his teeth grating. That bastard didn't deserve her. Nothing he did, no amount of fighting Zeref's acolytes, could truly atone for the deaths and betrayals that man was responsible for. And especially not for making Erza cry. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. Somewhere deep in his heart hope still burned like a fire. Hope that somehow, this would be interrupted before their lips touched. Hope that her heart still had room for him in it.

And to his surprise, Jellal stopped the kiss. Murmuring something that seemed to surprise Erza. They separated, and Natsu breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment the finality was averted. For the moment he was still granted some semblance of hope. He could still cling to that, even if it never came to fruition. Hope, after all, was what he lived for.

Realizing he'd stayed too long in that spot and might be noticed soon, he quickly retreated back to the area of the cabin. He settled down with his back to the wall, lost in thought.

 **~~~Erza~~~**

"Fiance, huh. You always did suck at lying." Erza whispered to herself as she looked off in the direction that Crime Sorciere had disappeared. She sighed softly, the moonlight falling over her long scarlet hair. "But it's better this way. We have our answer now."

She wondered what might have been if the incident at the tower had never happened. If that woman had never taken control of Jellal and caused those years of suffering and pain for her friends. She was the one to blame for this, not Jellal. Jellal was the same person he'd been when she knew him back then. The man in the tower was someone else entirely. He was—

"Hey Erza!" Happy's voice interrupted her musing. "Look at this!"

She turned to see what the infernal cat wanted now, and her mood turned instantly to anger. The neko had drawn a heart in the sand with a jagged line running down the middle. With a glare that she was sure would scare even a dragon, she kicked the damn cat as high as he would go.

She was just settling back down when she heard footsteps on the beach behind her. She turned to see Natsu, apparently over the pain caused by unlocking his second origin.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hi Natsu," Erza said, forcing a smile as she looked at her pink-haired friend.

He smiled back, and her smile turned to a frown. His smile was also different. Not as natural and honest as it had been in the past. This was a smile she felt she was seeing more often on the dragon slayer, especially when they were alone.

"Is everything alright, Natsu?" She asked.

"Of course it is. Everything's fine!" Natsu said, his smile widening as though to prove what he was saying.

"Are you sure?" Erza asked, wondering what her friend was hiding from her.

"Yes I'm sure. Why wouldn't it be?" Natsu asked, sounding a little defensive.

"Natsu…" On impulse she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. Perhaps a few gestures of kindness would convince him to open up to her. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

When there was no immediate answer, she hugged him a little tighter. _He must need more encouragement,_ she thought, nodding sagely to herself. "Come on Natsu, I can tell when things aren't ok with you. You can tell me what's wrong."

Natsu started shaking in her arms. In fact, he was shaking so violently she would've thought he was struggling to pull away if she didn't know better. She held him tightly, knowing he would have to let the tears out before healing could occur. "There, there Natsu." She said quietly. "I'm here for you… let it all out."

After a couple moments the dragon slayer stopped shaking. Then he went limp in her arms. "Poor Natsu, guess he really wore himself out." She said with a soft smile.

She looked down to see his face buried in her chest, right between her two breasts. Well, that was a little rude. If she hadn't been comforting him, he would've got the beating of his life for that. She then noticed the distinct absence of tears on his face. Suddenly she didn't feel his hot breath against her.

"Natsu?" This was new. First he cried so hard he passed out, and now he wasn't breathing?

 _Maybe you overdid it with your hugging._ She dismissed this notion immediately. She had only done what any good friend would do for someone who was hurting. But she had to focus on the present. The only thing to do now was get him breathing again, which meant…

Laying him flat on the ground, she quickly put her armored hands on his chest, in a position she'd learned from Porlyusica to get the heart moving again. She pumped hard once… twice… three times… _Breathe Natsu…_ She prayed she wouldn't have to go into the second part of this maneuver. The very thought of it made her blush.

To her relief, Natsu shot bolt upright after the 7th thrust of her hands. He gasped for air a few times before glaring at her. "Geez Erza, were you trying to kill me?"

Erza instantly hit him hard across the head. The ungrateful brat. "I was trying to comfort you!" She said angrily.

"Comfort me?" Natsu sounded incredulous.

"I can tell when something's wrong," Erza said. "And you definitely weren't happy about something. Now I demand you tell me what it is."

"No," Natsu said.

Erza glared at the dragon slayer. Using her 'you're really going to get it now' voice, she said, "You will tell me what's bothering you, Natsu."

"I said no."

Erza frowned. Natsu was stubborn, but usually he would succumb right away when she got angry at him. She grabbed him with both hands and pinned him against the cabin. "Natsu, I demand you tell me what's wrong!"

"Fine!" He practically yelled at her. "It's Jellal. And you. That's what's wrong."

"Jellal?..." Erza's eyes grew wide. Had he been watching them? Or was this just about the larger picture of what was happening since the tower? Her eyes narrowed again. "What about Jellal, Natsu?"

"Lots of things, but most importantly, you. I can't for the life of me understand why, but you still seem to want a relationship with him. Even though he betrayed you, turned your friends against you, and directly and indirectly killed many people, it's suddenly all ok. As if it never happened. Well it's not ok! I'm thankful for the help he gave me against Brain in the Nirvana incident, but that doesn't change anything that happened dammit!."

Erza frowned at Natsu. Who did he think he was judging Jellal like this? If he thought he could just talk about her love interest this way and get away with it he had another thing coming. But he was upset, so she decided to approach the topic gently. "That wasn't Jellal, Natsu. You should know that. He was being controlled."

"Oh shut up!" Natsu said, and Erza was surprised to realize he was glaring at her. "I'm sick of that shit. He gave up control of his own free will. That was his choice! Sure, he was controlled by evil, but he gave in and allowed himself to be controlled. That was his choice, and therefore everything that happened as a result was his choice too!"

"How would you know, and who the fuck are you to judge?" Erza yelled, angry at the dragon slayer now. She'd tried it the nice way. Now he was going to get a piece of his mind. What a self-righteous little prick. "What the fuck is your problem anyway? Whatever he did, he did because he had no other choice."

"Bullshit!" Natsu said. "I fight the darkness every fucking day and I don't give in. In fact—" suddenly he shut his mouth and looked to the side. "I've said too much."

"What do you mean you fight the darkness every day Natsu?" Erza asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Natsu gulped, then raised his eyes again to meet hers. "Fine. You asked for this." He was silent for a few moments before he resumed, his voice carrying a hard edge to it.

"There's something inside of me. I don't know what it is, but I do know that it's my darkness. It promises me power, unlimited power. It even tells me that if I accept it, I can be the one to kill Zeref. But it also has other darker aspects. It says I don't need friends. That people are tools to be used or destroyed. It says that if I can just accept that and abandon my guild… abandon my friends… I can become the most powerful wizard in all earthland."

"Every day for years this has been inside of me," he said, his voice still a little harsh. "And every day I have to fight that. I've never given in. No matter what happens, I choose to live for my friends. To use my power to protect and not to destroy. I make that choice every day of my life, and sometimes every minute of every day."

"If I were to give in, I know horrible things would happen. I could make all kinds of excuses. I could say that this darkness is controlling me. I could even say I'm doing it because it will allow me to keep the people I care about safe – as long as they're on my side, of course. But if I did that, it wouldn't change the fact that I gave in. Even if my choice was taken away from me after I decided to side with the evil in me, I still would be making that choice."

This information shocked Erza. She'd never suspected that the always cheerful, courageous, strong dragon slayer would struggle with something like this. A part of her felt sorry for her, but another part that was currently in control of her responses resented the implications of what he was saying in regard to Jellal.

"Easy to say for somebody who's never had to go through excruciating pain and been promised release by the darkness." She said, glowering at him. "If you were in that situation I guarantee you would give in. Especially if you thought it could protect your friends." _Take that bitch._

"You mean like the time ice prick decided he'd let me get thrown in that fake dragon just to remind me of some promise I made years ago?" Natsu's voice was getting louder. "Do you have any idea how painful it is to be in the center of that thing, having your magic forcibly extracted from you to power somebody's machine? Do you have any idea how betrayed I felt when I found out Gray put me in that situation _on purpose_ , not giving a thought to the fact that I could've died?"

Natsu was almost yelling again, and Erza cringed back. She'd never seen the dragon slayer like this before. Never thought that he even could be like this. What happened to the knucklehead who was just too thick-headed to feel anything except whatever was in the moment?

"Did I ever give in?" Natsu asked, his eyes still hard. "In all that time, against Hades on the airship, in Edolas when my magic was being taken… Did I ever choose to let the darkness control me?"

"N-no…" Erza was forced to admit as she let go of the dragon slayer. He just slumped to the ground at the base of the tree. The anger faded from his eyes, and was replaced by a look that was almost empty. Erza felt a tear slip down her cheek, and she turned and ran from the scene, needing to clear her head.

Why was Natsu so uptight about Jellal? And why did he have to be the one person who could actually objectively judge that Jellal made a choice to be evil? Erza didn't want to think about it. Didn't want to believe that the 'old Jellal' that she'd just welcomed back made that choice. He couldn't have done it. It was forced on him!

But Natsu's words rang true in her heart, no matter how much she wanted to deny it. At some point he had to make a choice to allow evil to control him. At some point, it was his decision to give himself over to that darkness that made him do all those things.

And they couldn't be undone. No matter how contrite he was. No matter how many dark mages he apprehended, it wouldn't change anything that happened in the past.

But why was Natsu so fixated on this? Her mind went back to his first response to her question. What had him so upset?

 _"Jellal… and you…"_ That was what he said, right? Was it because of her? Was it possible?

No. It couldn't be. The dense dragon slayer didn't even know what it meant to harbor _those_ feelings for someone. There was no way that he loved her. It couldn't be.

But 10 minutes ago she'd believed there was nothing more to Natsu Dragneel than the dense fire-breather that thought of nothing but fighting and getting stronger. Like everyone else in the guild, she believed the dragon slayer just possessed an endless supply of cheerfulness, hope, and courage. It never occurred to her that he could feel darkness, pain, and betrayal. And if he could feel those, couldn't he also feel love, and jealousy?

Erza buried her face in her knees. Why did Natsu have to make things so complicated? She would never have questioned her heart before, but now her mind was a confused mess. Did she really love Jellal or not?

 _Yes._ Jellal protected her first when nobody else was there for her. He taught her to be confident. Without him she could still be the same timid, insecure girl from the tower.

Sure, he'd done some really bad things when he was possessed, but that wasn't really Jellal. The person who'd been ready to sacrifice her. The person who told her friends she'd abandoned them after threatening to kill them if she ever returned. That person wasn't Jellal. No matter what Natsu said, Jellal wasn't at fault for those actions because he wasn't in control of himself.

Erza sighed as she returned to the cabin, finding a spot away from the others where she could sleep. She was too tired to think about this kind of stuff right now. With a groan she settled in, falling asleep the instant her eyes closed.

 **~~~NATSU~~~**

Natsu watched as Erza ran off, then headed out in the opposite direction. When he was a fair distance from the cabin, he sank to the ground with his back against a tree. A hot tear slipped down his cheek.

Jellal. He didn't hate the blue-haired mage, but he didn't really like him either. And he certainly didn't trust him. He remembered a long time ago what Igneel had taught him. Those who choose darkness once can be corrupted again. And even those who think they are doing good may err. That hadn't made sense to him at the time, but after seeing the Oracion Seis return to the path of darkness and watching people dedicated to the archbishop commit atrocities in the name of their church, he realized all too well the wisdom of those words.

Jellal had been deceived by Zeref, and now he was determined to kill Zeref. But, Natsu wondered, what if Zeref himself was a victim of deception? He remembered the man's attitude on Tenroujima. He didn't act like a cold-hearted killer. In fact, more than anything, he seemed afraid of people coming too close to him and dying.

But if it did turn out that killing Zeref wasn't the right course of action, would Jellal back down from it?

Natsu doubted it. As much as the man had changed from the time he saw him in the tower of heaven, he was following his current path for the purpose of "atonement." And in Natsu's mind that was just as dangerous as someone like the church acolytes who pursued them. In some way, Jellal felt that taking down the dark guilds and Zeref worshipers could make up for all the destruction and death he'd caused while under the influence of evil. That also meant that if he saw his chance to destroy what he perceived as the source of that evil, he wouldn't hesitate to take it.

And that made him wonder what else the blue-haired mage would do, given the right – or wrong – motivation.

 **~~~Ultear~~~**

She didn't know who Jellal's contacts were, but this was the third time in the last week that she'd seen him meeting with one. The man wore a cloak and hood, similar to Crime Sorciere's attire, so she couldn't see his face. But from the earnestness of Jellal's tones she knew what they were discussing. Zeref.

She heard Meredy stir next to her and looked over. The pink-haired girl was rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Ultear?" She said. "Are you still awake?"

Ultear lifted her head off her sleeping back and rested it on her elbow, then held a finger to her lips and motioned outward with her eyes. The younger woman must've caught the subtle movement even in the firelight, because she looked out toward Jellal and the man he was talking to. A sharp gasp escaped her lips.

"Is everything ok?" She asked in a whisper.

Ultear merely nodded, still looking at the pair. Jellal's face was very serious, though the other man's face was still covered in shadow. "Jellal has some contacts who help him find clues to get closer to Zeref," she explained in a whisper. "He meets them at night when he believes we're asleep, but one night I accidentally woke up in the middle of one of his talks. Since then, I've seen him meeting people several times, and three times in the last week alone."

Suddenly Jellal looked back toward them, and Ultear realized that Meredy was still sitting up. He spoke a couple words to the stranger, and the man disappeared before her eyes. Ultear watched in anticipation as Crime Sorciere's founder and guild master came back to the cave in which they were resting.

"You can stop pretending to be asleep, Ultear," he said as he came in. She growled, slowly sitting up as well.

"How did you know?" She asked, certain she hadn't given any clues.

"I didn't really," Jellal replied with a shrug. "But Meredy was awake. I figured there was a good chance she did something to wake you up too."

"Well, as long as you're back, why don't you tell us what that's all about?" Ultear grumbled, not happy about being tricked into revealing that she was indeed awake.

Jellal sighed and looked down. "Troubling news," he said. "We've added another powerful enemy to our take down list. The man you saw me meeting with just now is one of the top scholars at Fiore's magic history guild. He's been researching Zeref for me, and it turns out that there's another enemy out there that could be as strong as Zeref. Maybe even stronger."

"Stronger than Zeref?" Ultear asked, surprised. "Is that even possible for a wizard?"

"We're not looking at a wizard," came the shocking reply. "I'm talking about a demon. A demon from the books of Zeref."

"But… how could a demon from the books of Zeref be stronger than Zeref? Weren't they created by his magic?" Ultear didn't mean to say it out loud, but it just slipped out in the shock of what she was hearing. Just how powerful was this demon anyway?

"I don't have a lot to go on yet," Jellal replied quietly. "But the strongest of all the demons that Zeref made, according to the information I just received, is called E.N.D. There's something about him that makes him special. And he was actually created with the purpose of becoming more powerful than Zeref."

"E.N.D…." Ultear blinked. "We've heard of E.N.D. before, so why is he a problem now?"

"Because when and if he awakens, he would be the greatest threat to Fiore of anyone – possibly including Zeref himself." Jellal said. "But there's more. The scholar thinks E.N.D. may already be alive and dormant."

"Dormant?"

"Waiting. He's not sure for what, but he says that Zeref's recent activity indicates that E.N.D. may soon appear too."

Ultear swallowed. This was a lot to take in. First hunting down Zeref, and now E.N.D. The powerful monster from the books of Zeref that nobody had ever actually seen. Or if they had, they certainly hadn't lived to tell of it.

But it didn't make sense. If E.N.D. was alive, why hadn't he made a move yet? Especially with the info they were getting that other demons of Zeref were being revived?

But E.N.D….

She didn't want to think about it. Deliora was a demon from the books of Zeref, and he was powerful that her mother, who could've been a wizard saint if she were still alive, was unable to defeat him with out killing herself in the process. And E.N.D. was more powerful than Deliora. How would they even begin to deal with a demon who possessed that much power?

For the first time since joining Crime Sorciere, Ultear was beginning to feel an emotion that seemed foreign to her. Her heart was trembling within her chest, sweat forming on her forehead. She didn't want to admit it, but Ultear Milkovich was frightened.

"There's one more thing you should know," Jellal said quietly, snapping her out of her thoughts. "If this man is right, we can find out more about E.N.D. by getting the book. Apparently, every demon has an actual book that contains everything there is to know about that demon. If we can get ahold of that book, we can find out everything we need to do. And best of all, if the scholars are right, we should be able to destroy the demon simply by destroying his book."

"That… is quite a weakness," Ultear said, not sure if she could actually believe what she was hearing. Could they really take out a demon of such power simply by destroying a simple book?

If it was, why hadn't anybody else done it before?

 **~~~Natsu~~~**

"Is that all you've got old man?" Natsu smirked down at the bruised and beaten form of Makarov Dreyar, 3rd, and now 6th, master of Fairy Tail. Scattered around the guild were all the S-class mages of Fairy Tail. Erza, Laxus, Mirajane… Even Gildarts. All unconscious and dripping blood from various wounds sustained in battle.

"You're weaklings, all of you!"

 _No. This isn't who I am. What am I doing?_ Natsu struggled to stop himself, but he kept going. "Iron Dragon's Hell Fist!" The punch drove the guild master into the ground, causing him to vomit blood.

"Wizard saint? Don't make me laugh. You're pathetic!" Natsu's voice was low and harsh, his body lined with scales. His eyes glowed orange, and the horns on his head were smeared with blood. "All of you are powerless before me, human filth."

 _Stop. Please stop. This isn't me. I'm not like this. I'll never be like this._

Natsu stomped across the guild. The other members were strewn around him, from the weakest, even Romeo and Asuka, to gramps. Nobody had been spared his wrath.

"You think you can take on Zeref, insects?" He roared, stomping on the mangled body of Gray. "You're not even worthy to look at Zeref. None of you!" He slammed a flame covered fist into Gildarts' head, watching with satisfaction as blood and brain matter splattered out.

 _No please. I don't want this power. I don't need this power._

"But you… I think I'll keep you." He picked up Erza scarlet, holding the battered knight with one hand. "You can be my… entertainment." With an evil smirk, he raised a clawed hand and shredded the scarlet knight's armor to pieces, leaving her naked in his hands.

 _No. Don't touch her you filth! You're not me. I'll never be what you are._

"Stop fighting it." The monster inside him was talking directly to him now. "This is who you're meant to be. Not a weak-ass dragon slayer who can barely protect the people he calls 'friends,' but the only being with the power to kill Zeref. I am you. I am Natsu Dragneel!"

 _No! You're not me! You can't be me! I would never do this to my family!_

"Natsu… Natsu, wake up!"

 _Erza's voice? But she's still unconscious._

"Natsu! You're having a nightmare Natsu! Please wake up!"

 _Huh? Nightmare? Oh… right… this isn't real… I've had these nightmares before…_

Slowly Natsu opened his eyes as his head jerked up and down against the hard ground. Hands gripped his shoulders tightly, shaking him furiously. "Natsu!"

"Ow… I'm awake already," he groaned as his head slammed into the ground again.

"Natsu, what were you dreaming about?" Erza asked, not letting go of his shoulders.

"I… don't remember," Natsu lied, looking away.

"Natsu," the knight's voice was dangerous. "Don't lie to me."

"I'm sorry Erza," Natsu sighed. He sucked at lying, and he knew it. "But I'm still not going to tell you. It was just a nightmare."

"And what does the fearless Natsu Dragneel have nightmares about?" Erza asked, loosening her grip on his shoulders a little.

"Winged fish," Natsu said with a laugh, hoping she wouldn't push the issue any further. He really wasn't in any shape to talk to the woman he loved about his deepest fears right now. Especially knowing that her heart was still set on another man.

"Natsu…" Erza's tone was insistent. "You need to tell me. I can help you with this."

Natsu bit his lip and looked away. He couldn't tell her about these nightmares and their increasing frequency. He just couldn't. There was no way she could see that part of him. Especially her. If it were anybody else, he might be able to bring himself to tell his secret. But this was Erza.

"Natsu," her tone was deadly serious now. "Look around you."

"Around me?" Natsu blinked, then looked around. Now that he was actually aware of his surroundings, he saw that the entire area was blackened. The tree that he'd been leaning against was completely gone, a small pile of ashes in its place. His mouth dropped open, horrified at the destruction. The side effects of his nightmares had never been this bad. If this kept up, he could hurt his fellow guild members. He could do the very thing he was most afraid of. He trembled slightly, starting to feel an uncharacteristic chill creeping over him.

"Natsu," Erza said quietly. He looked back at her and realized she was in her flame empress armor. The gauntlets were gone where she'd been holding his shoulders, and he could see scorch marks on her hands.

"Erza…" Tears came unbidden to his eyes. How could he forgive himself for this? He was just as bad as Jellal. "I'm sorry."

She looked at him blankly, then looked down at her hands, understanding dawning on her face. "This isn't your fault Natsu. I chose to wake you because I want to help you. But blaming yourself for this will only make it worse. You didn't mean to hurt me."

But that didn't matter. He actually hurt her. The only one he wanted to see him as more than family. "It doesn't matter if I meant to," he said, trying to choke back the tears. "It happened. What if it was in the guild? Or Lucy's house? Or an inn?"

An armored hand smacked him across the face, and before he could get over the shock Erza was pulling him in for a hug. "What if doesn't matter Natsu. It happened out here, away from everyone. And some minor burns are a small price to pay. But please, tell me what your nightmares are about. Maybe we can find a way to make them go away."

Natsu gulped, slowly relaxing his tense body. He didn't think there was anything anyone could do to help him. But then again, it was Erza. Erza seemed to have a knack for doing the impossible.

"They've been getting worse recently," he said quietly, half hoping she wouldn't hear.

"The nightmares?" She did hear.

He nodded his head slowly. "They started getting worse since our return from Tenroujima," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "It happens a different way every time, but it's always the same nightmare. I'm there, but it's not me… It's some… sick, twisted version of me. And everybody's lying around, unconscious or dead…" Natsu struggled to keep his composure, feeling tears rolling down his cheeks. "Then I always laugh at you all. Call you weaklings. And the whole time I'm thinking this isn't who I am. But then, with everyone unconscious or dead around me, the me in the dream speaks. Tells me this is who I'm meant to be. Tells me I don't need my guild to be powerful, that this is my true power and I just have to accept it…"

He paused for a moment, but continued again before she could say anything. "And the thing is… I know the voice of the dream me… It's the same voice that I fight every day. The same darkness that promises me power beyond my wildest imagination. Recently, I've been having the dreams more frequently. This one was the third time this week."

When he looked up, she was staring at him with a shocked expression, and he hung his head, not daring to look at her eyes again. He knew it. She was thinking he was a monster. Now that she knew his secret, there was no way that she could love him, let alone choose him over Jellal. "So there you have it," he said quietly, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice but not wholly succeeding. "I'm a monster inside."

"No!" The vehemence in her voice surprised him, and he snapped his head back up to look at her. "Don't ever say that again. You're not a monster, Natsu. You're the farthest thing from it."

He dared to meet her gaze, and saw no loathing there. Anger, worry, and compassion. But no loathing. No hate. "But I have this… thing… in me."

"And whatever it is, you fight it every day. You make sure it doesn't control you!" Erza's voice softened a little. "There are few men who could resist the offer of power, even at the expense of those around them. You're not a monster, Natsu. Quite the opposite. You're the strongest, purest-hearted person I know. Somehow we'll figure out what's going on, and then how to overcome it."

Natsu was surprised by the determination in her voice. He managed a smile though, the fears that he so often dealt with when he was alone beginning to subside. Only then did he realize how tired he was. His eyelids felt like led weights, his legs and arms failed him as he sank slowly to the ground, his consciousness leaving him before he slowly snuggled into a warm, soft pillow.

 **~~~Erza~~~**

To say she was shocked was an understatement. It was hard enough for her to wrap her head around the fact that Natsu Dragneel, the cheerful, notoriously dense dragon slayer struggled with his own personal darkness. To learn the extent to which his struggles grew, well, it was appalling to the knight. But nothing was worse than the self-loathing she'd heard in his voice when he called himself a monster. That made her angry. Partially at him, for never sharing it with anyone. Partially with everyone who was close to him for never noticing. But mostly with herself for never questioning.

As his body collapsed in exhaustion, she caught him to slow his descent to the ground. She sat down, allowing his head to lay on her lap, alone with her thoughts now. With a gentle sigh she laid back, carefully extending her legs, trying not to disturb the dragon slayer as she began to give in to her own fatigue. She would figure out a way to help Natsu no matter what. But for now she let sleep wash away the fears and sadness of the day. Maybe tomorrow would bring answers… especially for her heart.

 **~~~Jellal~~~**

He awoke early in the morning, just before sunrise. And suddenly sensed remnants of a dark magic. A magic that was somehow similar to Zeref's. and it came from the area near the cabins.

The Fairy Tail mages. Erza! Were they alright? Leaving Ultear and Meredy to sleep in the cave, he rushed toward the cabin as fast as he could. As he approached, he masked his footsteps to avoid detection.

He was relieved to see everything seemed quiet at the cabin. A quick peak inside found everyone sleeping inside. Everyone except Natsu. And Erza.

 _Erza!_ He took off faster, closing in on the origin of the strange magic. Suddenly he came to a stop, a little more than a quarter mile from the cabin. In front of him was an expanse of charred, blackened ground. As though a massive fireball had gone off. But in the middle of it he saw Erza, sleeping on her back on the ground. And sleeping next to her, his head nestled comfortably into her lap, was Natsu Dragneel. The Salamander of Fairy Tail.

 _Natsu. Were you the source of this magic?_ Jellal looked at the two mages, and couldn't help feeling a twinge of jealousy. He couldn't stand the thought of another man being so close with Erza. Sure, it probably was just normal to them, but that didn't make it any better. If anything, it was worse. It meant the dragon slayer got to do things like this with her all the time.

But he had to get his mind off that. Hadn't he just reminded Ultear and Meredy of their vow not to love somebody who was walking in the light? More concerning was the remnants of magic, and their apparent source. Though he could sense no trace of the magic on Natsu now, his position and the scorch pattern made it clear that it originated from the dragon slayer.

 _What secrets are you hiding, Natsu Dragneel…_ Perhaps these games would be more difficult than he imagined.

It was with very confused feelings that Jellal Fernandez returned to the cave where the other members of Crime Sorciere were just beginning to awaken.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. They all belong to Mashima.

Alright. Sorry it's taken so long to get this second chapter up, but here it is! Hopefully it was worth the wait. As I said before, Natsu and Erza's relationship will be progressing more slowly in this fic. As hard as it is to write it, I feel like this is closer to how the relationship would actually progress if the story diverged from Canon here.**

* * *

"Remember, everyone must be back by midnight." Erza dished out the reminder with her usual strict tone, causing Natsu to sigh inwardly. Spending the night inside with everyone around him scared him. Sure, there hadn't been anymore flare ups, but that didn't mean anything. He'd never forgive himself if something happened and injured his guild mates when he could've avoided it!

Wendy headed off with Carla, saying something about exploring the capital. Natsu wanted to take some time to explore too, and of course Lucy insisted on tagging along. Not that he really minded her company. The dragon slayer enjoyed having others around him after all. But it did kind of annoy him that people were starting to assume that they were an item.

His irritation had nothing to do with her looks either. Lucy was good looking enough as mages went, but she just wasn't really his type. Sure, having her on the team made things interesting. Especially since she ended up doing less of the fighting and more of the being rescued. But he just wasn't into her that way. And he hoped she wasn't into him that way either, though sometimes he wasn't too sure.

Then there was Gray. The way the ice stripper looked at Erza sometimes also annoyed him. Juvia was head over heels in love with the ice mage, yet he barely spared her a glance. But he still looked at Erza with lust in his eyes on occasion. There were some times that Natsu wanted to stop acting the dense dragon slayer role and pound some sense into the dark haired ice mage.

But one look at Erza told him Gray didn't stand a chance with her, so he refrained from doing anything. He knew the scarlet-haired knight still felt something for Jellal, but he could also see that she struggled with her feelings when it came to him. Or maybe it was just blind optimism, pointing him to hope where there truly was none. Well, if the latter were true, he would choose to believe it anyway as long as he could. He couldn't stand the thought of Erza being with that blue-haired half arrogant half emo jerk.

Natsu wasn't really paying attention to where they were going. Lucy was kind of leading the way to various shops, and he was just kind of trailing along. He was also vaguely aware that she was making conversation the entire way, but as he often did he just let the subconscious side of his mind handle the tedious task of responding to the endless chatter. He just hoped he wasn't saying anything too dumb – not that it could hurt his reputation any if he was.

But then something caught his attention. People were running down the street talking about a fight going on. But that wasn't all. He could smell something similar to dragons, and it was coming from wherever everyone was running to.

He followed the crowd and his nose till he caught sight of a blonde teen and an emo-looking dark haired teen, one with his foot on the head of a downed opponent.

"Man, that was boring. These people are literally beneath us," the blonde said arrogantly.

"Frosch thinks so too!" An exceed in a frog costume commented.

It was at that point that the blonde caught sight of Natsu. "Natsu Dragneel…"

"And who exactly are you?" He asked.

The blonde replied by expressing his shock that Natsu hadn't heard of the twin dragon slayers from Sabertooth. Natsu couldn't help being amused by the arrogant prick's demeanor. He sort of half listened as the reddish brown exceed started explaining how the two were some half-cocked "third generation" dragon slayers who didn't think the powers they got from their training were enough and implanted a lacrima in themselves to make them more powerful.

But when they claimed to have defeated dragons, Natsu was a little taken aback. His magic power wasn't at the level where he could easily read an opponent's magic yet, but from what he could tell these two jokers weren't any more powerful than he was. Then, when they started to mock him for being unable to do anything about Acnologia on Tenroujima, his blood started to boil.

 _'I can give you the strength to kill them, and nobody will ever know.'_ The voice from his subconscious echoed in him as he stared at the two jackasses who thought they were powerful enough to kill real dragons.

 _I don't need your help,_ He replied in his mind, glad that the conversation was taking place internally so nobody could see it. _And I certainly don't need to kill them._

 _'You may not need my help yet, but the day will come when you do. I'm stronger than you, Salamander…_

 _Fuck off_. It felt really weird telling himself to fuck off. But it seemed effective enough. Perhaps because the amusement of arguing with himself drove his anger levels down enough to regain control. Either way, his eyes and ears were back on the situation at hand. Apparently the twin dragons of Sabertooth believed his disinterest to be inability to comprehend their blabbering, because they started shooting their mouths off again. At that point Lucy started dragging him off, muttering some things about the games and this not being worth it. To which he readily agreed. Because Erza was waiting to punish anyone who got back late.

 **[Canon events: Wendy's magic is drained. Elfman replaces her for the preliminaries. Fairy Tail Team A comes in 8** **th** **after a difficult trek through the sky labyrinth. The teams all go to their respective sleeping quarters. We resume our story from Erza's point of view]**

Erza groaned as she turned over again, still unable to go back to sleep. What was wrong with her right now? The night couldn't be more than a couple hours old, but she was wide awake, tossing and turning and unable to even keep her eyes closed for more than a few minutes.

It didn't make any sense! She'd just gotten through a long and tiring day. Her body should be ready for sleep. She should be more than ready to rest up before the games began the next day. After all, who knew what kind of competition the next day might bring her. She needed to be on at her fullest for whatever came her way!

She looked around the room, wondering if she could somehow be affected by a change in the atmosphere. Everything seemed normal. Lucy was sleeping in one corner with Happy snuggled up to her. Gray was sleeping somewhere else, with Juvia, who apparently managed to sneak into the room, laying close to his bed. Elfman was sprawled over his bed like a rag doll. And Natsu was…

And there it was. The cause of her unease. The normal, predictable world that she came to accept was upended again. Juvia's presence could be accepted – expected, even. But Natsu never had trouble sleeping, and more than anyone else he would be the first to pass out in a group.

With a sigh, the scarlet haired knight rose from her bed. Not bothering to requip from her pajamas - after all, it's not like they were indecent or anything – she headed out of the inn and began to wander in search of the dragon slayer. She was surprised at how much activity she saw in the city that night. But then, these people didn't have to compete in the games. They just had to watch. And based on the time that they had to be there for the opening ceremonies, the people had plenty of time to enjoy the night life and still be awake for the festivities the next day.

Normally this would be the first place she'd look for Natsu. Out here, among the people. Somewhere that he could make an enormous fool of himself and have people laughing and joking all around him. But tonight she felt certain that she wouldn't see him among the crowds. Yes. Natsu left to seek isolation. Of this she was certain.

So her wanderings took her away from the crowds toward the outskirts of town. As she got further away from the night life, the houses began to thin. Large estates with enormous acreage began to appear. Eventually, the houses pretty much disappeared altogether, scattered several hundred feet apart. It was in this area that she found him, in the middle of a field with no trees or buildings nearby. He sat in the moonlight, looking away from her across the darkened plains to the south.

She approached slowly and cautiously, not wanting to disturb him just yet. A small part of her considered beating him and dragging him back to the inn to rejoin the group, but a larger part of her recognized that this wasn't the kid that she once had to beat sense into. In truth, she wasn't fully certain that she was even his equal in power anymore, let alone his superior. But the years of discipline reaped their benefits, and he and Gray both shuddered in fear at her wrath.

"What are you doing out here Erza?" His voice came quietly and unreadable. Erza sighed and walked the rest of the way to the dragon slayer, sitting down beside him.

"How did you know I was here?" She asked, not answering his question.

"Dragon slayer, duh." He rolled his eyes at her. "Now how about you answer my question."

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk," Erza replied truthfully. Sure, she was omitting the part where she came out specifically to look for him, but that wasn't lying, really. It was just carefully selecting how much of the truth to tell.

"Now how about you tell me what you're doing out here?" She said, not waiting for him to add anything.

"I just don't like sleeping indoors," Natsu said with an indifferent shrug.

Erza glared at him. "How about giving me a real reason?"

"Who said that's not the real reason?" Natsu asked, looking out toward the stars in the south. "I'm going to be sleeping outside for the foreseeable future."

Erza was going to reprimand him when it occurred to her where Natsu was going with this. She stood up and moved around in front of him, forcing him to meet her gaze. "Nothing's going to happen, Natsu." She assured him, trying to crack his unreadable expression.

A pregnant silence followed. After a few minutes, Natsu laid down on the grassy field, his eyes half closing. "Meh, I was about to go to sleep anyway," he said quietly.

Erza laid down next to him, suddenly feeling drowsy as the heat radiating from his body enveloped her. She turned on her side, laying her head gently on his chest.

"Umm… Erza?" Natsu's voice was questioning, a little hesitant. Erza supposed he had every right to be. After all, many might consider this a compromising position. And she still had Jellal – well, whenever he decided to pull his head out of his ass. But none of that mattered right now. For some reason with this warmth she felt secure. Unlike the thousands of nights since the tower when she would have to beat her nightmares off with her sword, this drowsiness led her into a comfortable, dreamless sleep. A sleep that was upon her before she even realized it started.

It wasn't until she suddenly felt a little cool that Erza awoke. As her eyes fluttered open, she saw Natsu standing a short distance away. The first rays of sunlight were just streaming over the red horizon. Erza pushed herself slowly into a sitting position, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"We'd better get back before they realize we're gone," Natsu said without turning.

 _How does he do that?_ Erza wondered. She knew he was a dragon slayer, but his senses seemed even more ridiculous than the others.

She got up, requipping to her Heart Kruz armor, and together the duo headed back to the inn where the whole guild was now staying. When they got there, none of the others from the team had come down yet. They found a table near the bar, where the bartender was preparing breakfast.

It wasn't long before Mirajane came from her assigned room, sitting at the table with them. Lisanna, who was in Mira's room, soon followed, and before long the main room filled with people. And the serious, thoughtful Natsu disappeared, replaced instantly by the goofy, slightly dense, outgoing dragon slayer Erza had known for years.

 _Whoever knew there could be more to him than meets the eye…_ She thought as she watched him insult Gray after gobbling down about 10 portions of breakfast. But then she looked at the time. There was no more time for this! They had to be focused to prepare for the game.

"Natsu, Gray! Stop fighting this instant! We have to prepare for the games," she commanded, assuming her strictest posture.

"Fighting? Who's fighting?" Gray said with a big smile as he put an arm around Natsu.

"Yeah, we were just having a friendly conversation. Just like friends do!" Natsu said with his toothy grin.

"Good," Erza said, smirking at the two. "Then let's take that friendly conversation to the arena. We've got some games to win!"

"Aye sir!" Said Natsu, echoed by Happy.

"You're not even on the team Happy," Lucy yelled from her place.

"Aye sir!" The exceed said again.

"Don't 'Aye' me cat!" Lucy glared at Happy.

"Natsu, Lucy's being scary again," Happy complained to his best buddy.

"Lucy, stop picking on Happy and come with us," Erza said sternly.

"I'm not picking on him!" Objected Lucy as she followed them out to the stadium. It wasn't long before the group was gathered, Elfman wearing the official team outfit that was made for him at the last minute, since Wendy's had proved to be a little small and, as Elfman put it, "unmanly."

Erza was surprised to see Fairy Tail Team B in the stadium, but it just made her desire to win that much stronger. Apparently Makarov didn't have enough faith in the team he'd picked, so he sent a backup team to have a double chance of winning. And of course Mirajane just had to be on that team. Erza could feel the childhood rivalry she had with the take over mage welling back up in her. There was no way her team was going to lose to that demon bitch and her team.

But perhaps more surprising was the appearance of 'Mystogan,' especially since Erza knew for a fact that the mage couldn't be there. That only left one possibility.

 _Jellal. What are you thinking, master?_ If someone were to discover Jellal's true identity, it could be terrible for the guild. Was it really this important to help Jellal in his quest to find Zeref and put an end to him?

 _I guess I should be happy…_ She thought, with a light hint of irony, about how excited she would've been only a few weeks ago to have this opportunity to be close to Jellal. But for some reason the excitement failed to come. She honestly felt a little awkward, like someone who just discovered her ex was going to be on her first date.

 _Get over it Erza_. She just smiled and waved, knowing that she would be expected to interact well with the blue-haired mage. After all, many of her team members had seen her almost cry when the council arrested him. And she did still have feelings for him, didn't she?

Then the announcements were over, and after a brief interaction between the teams in which both voiced their intentions of not going easy on the other team, they all went their separate ways, back to their booths. As they began to announce the first game, Erza's confusion began to be swallowed up in excitement for the games to begin.

 **~~~~~~Jellal, the previous night~~~~~~**

After making arrangements to become 'Mystogan' for the games, Jellal headed out from the main part of the city. This would give him a chance to get close to the source of that magic and hopefully get close to Erza as well. Despite his denial at the beach, he had to admit the feelings remained. Especially after witnessing the moment where she fell asleep so close to the pink-haired dragon slayer.

As he reached the outskirts of town he saw it. Erza stood in front of the dragon slayer, confronting him about something. He couldn't hear what they were saying or see Natsu's reaction. He saw the dragon slayer lay down slowly on the ground, after which Erza lay down next to him and rested her head on his chest. At that moment it took all his self control not to move in at this point.

"Weren't you the one who said we couldn't fall in love with those who stayed in the light?" Ultear's voice came from behind him, breaking him out of his reverie and causing him to jump.

"Gah – don't sneak up on me like that!" Jellal retorted, turning to face her. "And yes, I did say that."

"Is someone ready to admit he was wrong about that one?" The smirk on her face ticked him off.

"No. It's just more inspiration to finish this whole business with Zeref. Maybe if we take down E.N.D. we can draw Zeref out too." He paused for a minute before giving her a meaningful look. "Is it possible that E.N.D. is the cause of this magic we've been sensing?"

"Anything is possible," Ultear said with a shrug. "But it's unlikely. I think if Zeref's most powerful demon were running amok in Crocus somebody would take notice. And if rumors are accurate E.N.D. isn't one for subtlety."

Jellal looked out at the scarlet haired knight, sleeping peacefully on a restless dragon slayer's chest. "Well I have a new lead on E.N.D. After we finish up here at the games, we'll have to follow it and see where it takes us."

"Well, well. Look who's 'all fired up' now." Ultear said with a smirk.

Jellal glared at her. "I think it's time for you to get to bed. Your 'daughter' must be wondering where you are."

"Meredy's already asleep," Ultear said, the smirk never leaving her face. "And it's more fun to tease you anyway."

Jellal let out a small sigh as he turned back to the time mage. "Well you should sleep too. We have to be alert tomorrow if that magic appears again."

"Yeah, yeah." Ultear just grinned at him. "Got to hurry and find that Zeref now so Jellal can pursue someone who walks in the light, eh?"

Jellal didn't bother denying it. The recent events with Natsu changed everything in his relationship with Erza. Before he felt like the only man in her life. The relationship had been secure, a rock to which he could always return.

But perhaps on the beach he pushed his luck too far. Jellal believed very strongly in fate. Sometimes fate dealt you a single moment that could define the whole rest of your life. What if the beach was that moment? What if his failure to accept the kiss Erza offered ultimately cost him the chance for a relationship? That would be, perhaps, the cruelest trick fate could play.

But the old man agreed to let him come on as part of the 'Fairy Tail B' team, so soon he would have more chances to get close to the scarlet knight. Perhaps there would even be a chance to rectify his choice on the beach. As he swore to Ultear and Meredy, he wouldn't initiate anything with Erza. But he wouldn't resist this time if she were to offer him something.

He couldn't help a small smile as he looked at her face, so peaceful and gentle as though she didn't have a care in the world. So different from every other moment of every day. If only that peaceful smile adorned a face that was resting against him and not the pink-haired dragon slayer. Then the world would be right again.

 **~~~~~~Natsu~~~~~~**

Natsu raised his head a little, feeling his heart rate calm down as the scent of the two Crime Sorciere mages faded into the distance. His sensitive ears picked up enough of the conversation to get the gist of it. Jellal saw the potential for something to develop between Natsu and Erza, and apparently he didn't like it.

But Natsu didn't really care much what the tattooed freak liked. He didn't like the fact that Erza was practically stuck in her childhood. Unable to move past the 'old Jellal' she had known then. She didn't even realize that it was holding her back. In fact, if Natsu was honest with himself, the only reason that his strength might now rival Erza's was because she was still latched onto her childhood, trying to hold onto a childhood crush rather than face the fact that she had been unable to save him back then.

And despite his act on the beach, it was pretty clear Jellal wasn't about to let her get over her childhood. But to Natsu that meant another challenge, and he was a man who never backed down from a challenge.

The next day flew by as the team prepared to head out to Domus Flau, the great arena where they would do battle. Natsu's excitement soared as he walked out onto the field with his team, ready to take on every guild in Fiore. He was sure nothing could dampen this moment. But once again he was proved wrong.

Fairy Tail Team B appeared, and with them, 'Mystogan.' Except that Natsu, and the rest of Fairy Tail, knew that the blue-haired mage was in Edolas. There was no way that he could be here on Earthland, which could only mean one thing.

"Jellal," he said, and the blue-haired mage put a finger to his lips with a conspiratory wink. What was Makarov thinking? First of all, if Jellal screwed up in a fight and used his magic instead of Mystogan's, the council would immediately know who he was. And second, why have a Team B in the first place? Team A was more than enough to get the job done! Between him, Erza, and Gray they pretty much had it covered. Wendy would be great too when she recovered! And Elfman and Lucy could probably hold their own against many of the mages there.

Of course, the booing that started when their team was announced didn't help either. Natsu wasn't used to being jeered by a crowd. The guild he belonged to only a few months ago - well, 7 years technically, but who was counting? – was well known and loved by everyone. But they couldn't get down about it! He raised his fist in the air, knowing that by the end of the games the crowd would change their tune. There was no challenge too difficult for Fairy Tail to overcome!

He noticed with satisfaction that Erza didn't immediately gravitate toward Jellal when she had an opportunity. And when the two did finally meet, he stayed a discreet distance away so he could hear their conversation without being observed. It mostly focused around what he was doing putting himself in danger that way. But, also much to his satisfaction, he could hear the faint undertones in Erza's questions that demanded to know what the master was thinking putting Fairy Tail in danger. To Natsu, this was a positive step. Only a few weeks ago her feelings for Jellal would've blinded her to the danger to the guild.

But things really got interesting when Millianna confronted her about Jellal, and there was talk of Kagura. Apparently Kagura was Simon's little sister. While Erza did her best to play Jellal's past down, there was no denying the fact that the man had been murdered by the blue-haired mage.

And again, Natsu could see here how Erza's feelings got so convoluted whenever it came to Jellal. Normally her strong sense of justice would've brought her to report him to the council as soon as she discovered he was free. If he was anyone else, that was exactly how she would've reacted. But because it was him, she was willing to cast all justice aside and give him a free pass. Because she remembered what he used to be.

That night Natsu headed outside of town again, laying down to go to sleep. He was less surprised this time when a certain red headed knight came out and, believing him to be asleep, laid her head gently on his chest.

 _You may not know it yet, Erza, but we belong to each other_. He thought as her gentle, even breathing reached his ears. Then he also drifted off into slumber.

* * *

So there's chapter 2. Thank you everyone for reading and for all the great reviews! Till next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Fairy Tail belongs to Mashima, not to me. If it belonged to me, Natsu would be with Erza. Or maybe Mira. And Jellal would've stayed dead. And... Gray wouldn't be let off the hook for trying to kill Natsu - twice now (when he handed him over to the crazy bitch and then when he was told that he was E.N.D.).

Anyway, enough of that for the moment. But I've been ready to stop reading for a while. The only reason that I keep reading is so that I can see where Mashima is going with it. It would be great if he trolls everyone, kills Jellal, and puts Erza with Natsu, but at this point he's made it pretty clear that the Erza/Jellal relationship will be canon, as will the Natsu/Lucy. And for the record, Jellal/Erza is definitely my least favorite pairing. But apparently Mashima thinks women fall in love with guys who abuse/hurt them. I mean, you've got Gajevy, which, even though it's a cute pairing, makes absolutely no sense, and Jerza, which is a loathsome pairing and makes absolutely no sense. The way this is going, I'm surprised Yukino didn't fall for Jiemma after he made her strip naked and remove her guild mark in front of everyone.

I guess if Natsu were to be with Erza in canon he'd have to become END, kill lots of innocent people. Then kill Jellal, and then "wake up" and be sorrowful about how he was controlled.

But... enough ranting... Gah - I just can't help it! ooh, a banana! )**

* * *

The rest of the Grand Magic Games went almost entirely without incident for Natsu. Every night Erza would repeat her ritual of waiting till the others were asleep, then heading out to find whatever remote field Natsu was located in. Even though she knew now why he was absent, she found the warmth he gave off very comforting, and was easily lulled to sleep by his mere presence.

But when the games were almost over, there was one night that she fell asleep before the others. The games were almost over. Lucy had been taken prisoner, and now they were planning to spring her the next day. But it was a long day for Erza. She hadn't participated in any of the events, but tension was running high between her and her old friend Millianna over the guild's connection to Jellal. To top that off, she hadn't slept long enough the night before, barely recovering from her battle in the pandemonium event where she took out 100 monsters. And, of course, there was the ever present tension of trying to figure out her heart. She was beginning to wonder if her infatuation with Jellal didn't have more to do with seeing him as someone she could rescue/save than an actual love. After all, she hardly knew the man. And if she was honest, what little she did know of him was nothing like the confident personality he displayed when he was young. Perhaps it was time to give up on the idea that he would ever return to being _that_ person. Time to accept that sometimes people really did change, and that perhaps she was in love with a ghost of things that were long past.

With these things on her mind, she lay in bed, uncovered by her blankets as she waited for the others to return. But without realizing it she drifted off to sleep even before they arrived.

 _"You can save one…"_

 _Erza looked up to see Natsu and Jellal, separated by easily more than 100 feet. Both were down, knocked out from some fight that had taken them all. And descending from above was an inferno of black. She knew somehow that this would kill anyone in its blast radius, and she didn't have much time._

 _Between them stood a man she didn't recognize. A man dressed in black robes, hair as black as midnight. His onyx orbs stared into hers as he repeated his ominous warning. "You can only save one of them."_

 _Making her choice in an instant, she rushed to Jellal, picking him up off the ground and getting him clear of the blast zone. The instant she laid him down she heard the inferno hit behind her, and instant regret and panic flooded her senses._

 _"Natsu!" She wept, turning back toward the enormous pit left in the wake of the devastating attack. But the younger mage was nowhere to be seen, obliterated by an attack even he couldn't fight off or ingest._

 _"NATSU!" She fell to her knees, tears streaming from her face. Why had she chosen Jellal? Why was she so fixated on saving someone who she didn't even know anymore? Even over the man who saved her from him? Why?..._

 _"Erza!" She looked up with joy as the dragon slayer's voice reached her, but her joy faded in an instant when her eyes found him. He was standing there, next to the man in black, no longer the dragon slayer that she knew from her youth._

It was almost 2 in the morning when the intense magic pressure reached her. Like a hot, stifling wave, it pulled her from her sleep, sweating and shaking. A tremendous, somewhat dark, magic force.

"Natsu!" She sprinted from the room, noticing the others beginning to shift restlessly in their sleep. She didn't know why she was the only one who was already awake from this, but she was thankful. Nobody else needed to see Natsu like this. Nobody else needed to look into his deepest weakness and help him find his way.

It was more than 20 minutes before she finally caught sight of him, and realized that her nightgown was burning away from the intensity of the heat. She requipped her Flame Empress Armor, sprinting across the empty field that he lay in, his body tossing back and forth through his troubled dreams. "NATSU!" She caught hold of him, shaking his body as the heat penetrated her flame-resistant armor, searing her hands painfully. "WAKE UP NATSU!"

At first there was no response, and Erza shook him all the harder, not caring that her hands were burning from the heat radiated by his body. The entire field was scorched, almost an entire square mile of blackened earth and decimated trees. Whatever was happening, it was on a whole new level from the night near the beach.

She shook him harder, sobbing now. He had to wake up! He had to! If this went any further… No. They wouldn't go any further. Natsu would already be in a bad enough state when he awakened! "Wake up Natsu!" She cried, oblivious to the steadily worsening burns on her hands and wrists. "Please wake up!"

Then, slowly, the flames receded, and Natsu's onyx orbs looked up at her, his eyelids fluttering in confusion. "Erza?..."

"Baka!" She hit him hard, then pulled him into a hug, forgetting she was still wearing her armor. "You really scared me. I thought you weren't going to wake up this time!"

"I'm sorry," Natsu frowned, looking at the ground. "I thought I would be fine… But I had this dream… This terrible dream…"

Erza froze, remembering her own dream that had seemed all the weirder because of the man with black hair. "Natsu, what did you dream about?" She asked.

Natsu's eyes never left the ground. "In this dream… I destroyed what was most precious to me…"

Erza barely held back a sigh of relief. If Natsu had the same dream she did, she would've been really scared. But it seemed like this was like all his other dreams. Turning into a monster and destroying his family. That would be a traumatizing event for the cheerful fire mage, who valued each and every one of them as though they were his own flesh and blood.

She wrapped her arms around the dragon slayer, requipping back out of her flame empress armor and into another nightgown. At first he resisted her grasp, but she was insistent, and she could see the exhaustion in his eyes. She held him there for several long minutes, careful to keep her hands where he couldn't see them.

"You don't have to worry about anything Natsu," she said gently. Despite the terrifying magic that his body had just been putting off, she felt secure enough with him to leave herself open, defenseless, in his presence. "You'll never hurt the people you care about. You'll figure this out. _We'll_ figure this out."

"I hope so," she could hear the tiredness in his voice. Not the cheery, almost annoying "Aye sir!" that she would normally expect in this kind of situation. It was painful to hear those words. How desperate his situation must seem to him if he was no longer facing it with his usual exuberance.

She felt the dragon slayer's chest begin to rise and fall gently and evenly against her. He was asleep again, already. That alone attested to how tired he was. But wasn't he sleeping every night at the same time she was? They certainly went to sleep and woke up together! Was it possible that he arose, unable to sleep through the night, while she slept on unawares?

She was unable to dwell too much on his tiredness though, as her own weariness overtook her and sleep claimed her.

 **~~~~~~Jellal~~~~~~**

Jellal raced across the fields toward the source of the magic that awakened him. This time it was more intense than ever, and powerful. Terrifyingly powerful! It didn't seem to be the magic they'd sensed in years before, but it was still tainted with Zeref's magic.

But just before he came close enough to see the source of the magic, it suddenly stopped. The suffocating heat disappeared from the air, the immense magic pressure leaving along with it. Still he continued to run, hoping to find some clue where the magic seemed to be coming from.

As he emerged from a clump of buildings he saw blackened ground in the distance, as though the earth had been scorched by fire. He continued to run in that direction, and soon the blackness became clearer, stretching out both left and right almost as far as his eye could follow. He cast meteor to help him go faster, scanning for the center of this devastation.

There! In the middle of the field, a figure lay, apparently sleeping, on the blackened ground! He approached quickly, only to skid to a halt as he realized the figure was actually sitting. He recognized the red hair even from behind, as well as the pink hair nestled into her shoulder.

Frowning, he turned from the scene, resisting the urge to investigate further. Something was going on with that dragon slayer, but how it involved Erza he didn't know. _Erza._ He felt his fingernails digging into his hand as his fists clenched. He wished now more than ever that he'd made a different decision on that beach. Now it looked like Erza – his Erza – was slowly slipping from his fingers.

"Jellal!" A voice hissed, and he jumped in surprise. He didn't realize he'd been that focused on Natsu and Erza that he wouldn't feel someone coming up on him. He turned to see one of his contacts who had been looking into Zeref, and especially END, for him.

"What is it?" He asked quietly, starting to walk away from the scene in front of him.

"We've found something that may be of interest," the man replied, still speaking quietly as they moved away from the pair in the field. "There's an old book – ancient, even – in a long-abandoned library where the magic academy was in the old days. The book lists all the registrants for the magic school in that year, as well as including notes from teachers and staff. It seemed that this particular year there was concern about a young student who was dabbling in matters of life and death. A young student named Zeref Dragneel."

Jellal stopped, his heart leaping to his throat as he turned back toward the now tiny figures. "Did you say Zeref _Dragneel_?"

The man merely nodded his confirmation, and Jellal felt his fists tightening once more as he stared at the small figures. Natsu Dragneel? Coincidence? Perhaps, but it seemed impossible, especially since in all his time on the council and then travelling Fiore he'd never met another Dragneel.

"There's more," the man whispered. "It appears from the book that this youth, Zeref, was desperate to revive someone. A brother who had died some years before."

"A brother you say?" Jellal looked back at the man, feeling the tension mounting in his body. Natsu couldn't be that brother, because Zeref had been around for hundreds of years! And Natsu… Well, he had been just a kid when he joined Fairy Tail.

He felt like he was close. So close to the truth. Yet too many things still didn't add up. If the brother had died, how would he have been resurrected? And why would he suddenly appear now, as a child? How did this relate to END?

Wait. END. He'd always wondered what kind of a name that was for a demon. Only 3 letters, not pronounced like the word "end." What if it was because it wasn't a name? What if it were initials? Natsu Dragneel? Of course, he didn't know what the E would stand for, but he could figure that out later. What was important was that he just figured out END's identity.

"I know who it must be, but I need more evidence," he said quietly. "Tell me you have more."

The man shook his head. "Only one other thing we discovered, and that is that the books of Zeref seem to be coming together in a guild and calling themselves Tartaros… You may be able to find out more about END by going there."

Jellal looked at the ground, his hands clenching and unclenching as emotions warred within him. He wanted nothing more than to unmask END as soon as possible, _especially_ if it was Natsu. However, he recognized that what was happening at the games was equally important, if not more so, since that magic was also tied to Zeref. Besides, how much closer could Natsu and Erza really get by the end of the games, which was only one day away now?

Yes, he would wait till the games were over. Then, Natsu Dragneel would be unmasked. Then he would have nothing to fear as he pursued Zeref. Erza would be his for the taking.

With a last look at the couple, now laying quietly in the middle of the field, Jellal stole away into the shadows, returning to his own guild and his bed.

 **~~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~~**

"Mmm… I could get used to this," Erza moaned as her eyelids fluttered open. A gentle, safe warmth enveloped her, soothing her senses and almost lulling her back to sleep. But the sun peeking over the horizon told her she couldn't afford to sleep. With a groan, she slowly extricated herself from the arms of the dragon slayer, getting slowly to her feet.

"Damn, is it morning already? Natsu said, slowly pushing off the ground. Erza couldn't help chuckling as she looked at him. His onyx eyes were still wrapped in the haze of sleep. His spiky hair even messier than usual, and his clothes slightly rumpled from sleeping on the ground. She felt her cheeks tinge red as she noticed the red mark on his neck where her head had been resting during their sleep.

"Alright, let's get some breakfast, and we can each get started with our day." She said, smirking slightly to cover her slightly increased heartbeat. She was just excited about the games today, right? Of course. That was it. They were going to kick everyone's ass with the plan Mavis put together!

As she was headed back into town a figure in Mystogan's wrappings appeared from an alley, motioning for her to follow. She quickly departed the path, coming up to the figure who remained half hidden in the shadows.

"What do you need, Jellal?" She asked quietly.

"I have good news," came the response. "I discovered the identity of END."

Erza started, her eyes widening a little at this. "The identity?... I thought we already knew who END was. The strongest demon from the books of Zeref."

"That's part of his identity," Jellal replied quietly." But it is the part that nobody really knows. E.N.D. has been living among us all this time, but thanks to some connections from my council days, I have finally figured out who it is."

"Who?" Erza breathed out sharply, remembering Gray's passion to find and destroy E.N.D. This was news the ice wizard would definitely want to hear, and she couldn't deny that she was interested in knowing who E.N.D was, and how he could've been right there in Fiore all that time without anyone realizing it.

"I can't tell you that yet," Jellal replied quietly. "E.N.D. is somebody that nobody would believe has that identity. Somebody even you would find it hard to believe, until I find the absolute proof of his identity. And I know where to obtain that proof now, so it's only a matter of time."

"Jellal, you can tell me anything. You know I trust you." Erza said quietly, her eyes searching the blue-haired man's.

"If you really trust me, then believe me when I say that it's for your good that you not find out his identity until I reveal the proof." Jellal said. "But Erza…"

"What is it?"

"I need to know that when I do reveal E.N.D., I'll have your full support in taking him down."

Erza froze at the strange request. It seemed to her that this would be a given, but the fact that he was even asking this of her made it apparent that it wouldn't be. And if that was the case. If he had to ask for her support, then she needed to know who E.N.D. was before she could promise it.

"I'm sorry Jellal," she responded. "But if you can't give me a name, I can't promise anything till the time comes. All I know about E.N.D. is legends. Rumors that are apparently only partly true. So for now I must reserve the right to decide when the time comes."

Jellal frowned. "It's not like you to reserve judgment on a demon of Zeref. Haven't you already seen enough of Zeref's work to know that anything originating from him must be evil?"

Erza looked into his eyes, her own heart firm. No matter what she felt for Jellal, she couldn't commit herself to fighting someone whose identity she didn't yet know. "I will know when the time comes," she replied. "Unless you want to give me a name now, and I'll decide."

"Not a name," Jellal said quietly, his voice a little darker than before. "But I suppose I could give you a hint. It's somebody close to you. Somebody _very_ close."

Erza's mind automatically ran through the list of her friends at the guild. Lucy? Hell no. Gray? No. Gray hated Zeref's demons. And it would be just plain crazy to think it was Wendy. Mirajane? She supposed that was a possibility. After all, who better for the strongest demon than a demon who could take the souls of other demons? That was a good possibility. It would certainly explain why hse didn't like her when she was younger. Erza gave herself a mental pat on the back for her quick thinking.

But wait. Earlier Jellal said he needed absolute proof of _his_ identity. And Jellal already knew, so he wasn't arbitrarily assigning a gender. Whoever it was, it was a man, but that only left…

 _"I've been fighting this for years…"_ Her breath hitched as she turned away from Jellal. It couldn't be! Natsu, the strongest demon from the books of Zeref? Her mind couldn't even begin to fathom it. The reckless, yet lovable dragon slayer had saved them countless times. Saved her countless times. He'd never shown anything but love and dedication for his guild mates. Even now when he was afraid of harming them, he slept far from them to avoid anyone being hurt by his actions. There was no way that he was one of those demons!

Wait. One time that he rescued her was from Jellal himself. And in the process he beat Jellal pretty badly. Perhaps that was coloring his interpretation of the data he was given.

"Are you sure of E.N.D.'s identity?" She asked quietly.

"Almost. I will be certain once I obtain the proof."

"Then I suggest you find the proof, and I will give you my answer then." Without another word Erza turned, heading back toward the grand magic games to do her part in bringing Fairy Tail to victory.

 **~~~~~~After the games~~~~~~**

The games were over. A sudden, surprising dragon invasion brought to an end by none other than Natsu himself. The teen was now a hero of Fiore. She couldn't help smirking a bit as her conversation with Jellal a few days ago returned to her mind. If people wouldn't believe it before, they certainly wouldn't now. Every mage in Fiore was gathered for the games, and all of them heard Natsu's words of encouragement echoing from above them as he fought to take down the one who summoned and controlled the dragons.

" _Guess you were wrong, Jellal,"_ She looked out over the dance floor. Juvia was hovering around Gray, as usual. The others were either hovering around the food or chatting with people they battled against or looked up to from other guilds. Natsu…

Where was Natsu? He was nowhere to be seen. Her heart leapt to her throat. Was something wrong? Did he have another episode? Was he afraid of hurting everyone here at the ball?!

Just then the king made his entrance, and she turned toward the balcony, her head bowed in a sign of respect. But as her eyes looked up, the figure walked into the light to reveal a shit eating grin, and just a few inches up from that two large, onyx eyes and a pink shock of hair. There was Natsu, wearing the crown and shouting at all "his subjects" to bow to him. She planted her palm on her forehead in embarrassment. Only Natsu would do something like this after their huge victory over the dragons…

The rest of the evening went well. She befriended Kagura from Mermaid's heel. She found the mermaid, despite her antagonism toward Jellal, possessed a great sense of justice just like her. This, combined with their shared passion for swordsmanship, created an immediate bond – a sisterhood even – between the two. Wendy and the young god slayer Chelia also hit it off well, and Sting and Rogue wouldn't leave Natsu and Gajeel alone. Finally everything was over, and it was time to head back to the guild and return to normal life.

Or so she thought. What she couldn't have anticipated was that life was that in a few days everyone's life was about to change…

* * *

Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for reading! Also, thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! Drop a review if you liked it!

And P.S, Yes, this fic is still alive ) BANANAPHONE!


	4. Chapter 4

****I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. It's all Mashima.**

 **Meh, meh, and more meh to the manga. All these hyped up fights that have been, so far, overwhelmingly disappointed. Wonder how many more asspulls Mashima has in his arsenal. Probably lots...**

 **Anywho, here's chapter 4****

* * *

 **[Canon events – changes: Immediately after returning from the GMG, Natsu, Erza, et al get sent to their mission for Warrod. Meanwhile, Jellal gathers a team to make his way to Tartarus, having intensified research on how to reveal the true identity of E.N.D. This causes Tartarus to spring their trap early, just as Natsu et al return from their request. Things don't go as planned, and Crime Sorciere and Fairy Tail attack the demon gates on two fronts. The demon gates are defeated quickly, and the final battle with Mard Geer commences. Natsu and Gray are just starting their battle with Mard Geer, when an unexpected visitor arrives]**

"Fairy Tail has arrived!""

The loud exclamation by none other than Gajeel, was not well received by the guards. After Tartaros had destroyed the council, it had been theorized that they would also target former council members, but this proved not to be the case. For some reason, after the attack on the council, the activity ceased. When Fairy Tail launched an investigation into former council members, it was discovered that the chairman was in league with Tartaros.

However, when they found the chairman he wasn't alone. Two demons from the books of Zeref were there with him, and between them they managed to escape with the chairman from the onslaught of Erza, Natsu, Mirajane, and Laxus. However, Natsu put a tracker on himself and launched out after the scent of the demons, allowing Fairy Tail to track him, and the guild, down.

Imagine their surprise when the guild turned out to be a giant flying rock. But after Cana's quick thinking, the guild was brought up as a deck of cards by the exceeds. The shocked faces of Tartaros' soldiers greeted them as they exploded out of their temporary small worlds, touching down on the surface of the cube with earthland over their heads.

"This is so weird…" Gray said as he looked up, or maybe down, at the mountains below them.

Erza had to agree, but they didn't have time to focus on weird. Natsu was nowhere to be seen, and his advance departure for the guild meant that he should be greeting them at any time. Even as they cleared the fodder, her mind went out to the impulsive dragon slayer.

Things were progressing rather quickly, but they came to a head when Gray was pulled out for a 'private' battle with Silver. Erza couldn't help but wonder if the man was Gray's father. After all, with the symbolic resemblance of the color Gray and the material and/or color Silver, coupled with the similar facial structure, hair, and even the fact that the same element of magic was present, how could anyone not come to that conclusion? If Gray hadn't said his father and mother were both dead, she would be certain this was his father.

Then it turned out it was his father. Brought back by some necromancer or something, but still able to maintain his own will, seeming unlikely for a necromantic walking corpse, and additionally learn devil slaying magic. Erza couldn't help but wonder why the hell a guild of demons would take in an outsider who they killed earlier and let him learn devil slayer magic. It seemed like they were just asking to be betrayed down the road. Were the demons from the books of Zeref really that stupid?

Well, whatever. It worked out well enough, because Gray than used the devil slayer magic, which was apparently just passed to him at the time of his father's death, to freeze some dangerous antimagic particles that could've killed them all. She couldn't help thinking about how convenient it was that he was able to acquire and master the magic so quickly just in time to use it in this exact scenario. Wow. Crazy.

Gajeel and Wendy then said that they smelled Natsu in the prison area, so they went to find the dragon slayer there. Upon coming to the cell, the first thing Erza noticed was that he was stark naked. But the rest of what she saw kept even a blush from forming at the sight. His body was covered with abrasions and bruises. It was obvious that whoever was in charge of this cell was fond of torturing the subjects. Yet, for all of that, in his right hand she saw Igneel's scarf clutched firmly. Apparently even through the worst of the torture the dragon slayer refused to give up his most precious possession.

It didn't take long for them to get the doors open, and they rushed in to release Natsu from his restraints.

"Natsu," Erza said gently, a few small tears escaping as she took his scarf to wrap it around his neck. She found, however, that she was unable to pull it from his iron grip. It was as though the wrap were actually attached to his body. "I'm trying to help you put this on."

As though in response, his grip softened, allowing her to take the scarf and wrap it around his neck, as it always was. She smiled a little at the way he seemed to relax at the familiar feeling. He was still unresponsive to attempts to wake and question him, though. So she and Gray pulled his arms around their shoulders and dragged him through the halls, after putting some clothes on him that they got from the Tartaros soldiers.

They were progressing slowly when suddenly Natsu snapped up, his feet finding their way under him, and dropped into a fighting crouch, his movements, pushing both of them away. He stood still for a moment, looking around wildly, before his eyes finally came into focus, looking at Erza and Gray. Then suddenly the fear left them, and a grin came to his face.

"About time you guys got here," he said, standing up, then wobbling a bit before steadying himself.

"We came as fast as we could," Erza said. "But we had to get back to the guild and find somebody who could actually trace your position."

"I was just teasing you Erza, relax." Natsu grinned at her, then smirked at Gray. "If you didn't leave at least one of these guys for me to take out, you're so dead when we get back to the guild."

"Sorry flame brain, but we destroyed all of them on the way up here," Gray smirked.

"Really? Cause I can still smell the stench of at least one in the lower levels," Natsu replied.

"Well lead the way!" Erza said. And Natsu did, taking off with the whole of Fairy Tail following him.

On the way Erza got sidetracked. They were passing a strange room with all kinds of large glass cylindrical objects filled with fluids of some sort, but what she noticed most was that some of them had demons in them. Demons that they'd already fought and defeated. She felt rather than saw Mirajane stop beside her.

"Hurry up and reconstruct me Lamy," a very annoying voice shouted from one tube. She saw Franmalth there, his back turned to them. From behind another tube a rather plain, dark haired girl appeared wearing a lab coat.

"I can't make it go any faster Franmalth," she said, scowling at him. Then she seemed to see Erza and Mira. "You. What are you doing here?"

"What is this place?" Erza asked, ignoring the girl's question.

Lamy responded with a smirk. "This is what makes us truly immortal. Hell's core. If we die, we are reborn here again, and again, and again. You can never kill us!"

"Hmm, I wonder." Mirajane hummed behind her. Then, to Erza's surprise, the glass cylinders started shattering one after another. Before long all of them were broken, and the whole room was covered in liquid and broken glass. The demons who had been in the tank were noticeably missing.

"How?!" Lamy practically screamed, before multiplying into literally hundreds of replicas of herself. The weak, but annoying, horde then started attacking, charging Erza and Mirajane with abandon. They mowed through wave after wave, wondering if the onslaught of super annoying demons was ever going to end.

Something was bothering Erza during the fight though. She had seen most of the demons they defeated on their way in, but if her memory was correct two were missing. The female demons. They were the first two that they encountered after the guards, so if the regeneration took time it was possible they were already healed before they made it there.

Or maybe she just remembered wrong. It wasn't like there was any way to tell now, with all traces of the cylinders and their occupants gone for good. Now all she could do was blast through another wave of the Lamys.

"Is there no end to you?! Blumenblatt!" She watched as her blades sliced through several more of the offending creatures.

"Evil explosion." Yet another group gone.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!" The shout came from behind her, and was quickly followed by a huge stream of lightning magic that took out six waves of Lamy's. The rest instantly disappeared, revealing the original lying in the epicenter of the attack, twitching and smoking.

"How?..."

Laxus walked past into Erza's line of vision. "A dragon slayer can always tell," he said with a smirk, tapping his nose lightly. Then he knocked the girl out quickly.

"Come on," he said. "Natsu and Gray are fighting the last of them below."

Erza and Mirajane quickly followed, leaving the room known as 'hell's core' behind in the process. He led them through a corridor and down, toward the bottom area of the cube. As they ran, the cube was shaking, chunks falling around them as more and more sky appeared through the destroyed ceiling.

"What's happening?!" Erza shouted. "Is this all Natsu's doing?!"

"Well," Laxus said. "Right now there are two dragons fighting over our heads somewhere, and the rest are out stopping face. What you're feeling is probably a combination of that and –oof!"

He was cut off as the cube seemed to slam hard into something, throwing them all from their feet. Erza got up shakily, surprised at the sudden impact.

"The cube crashing into the ground," Laxus finished as though nothing had happened. "So there you go. Let's get to Natsu."

The three continued their dead sprint through the halls till they came to a large room, if anything could be called a room with walls and ceilings disintegrating by the second. Inside they saw Gray and Natsu facing off against an angry looking Mard Geer.

 **~~~~~~Mard Geer~~~~~~**

"This spell will completely eliminate your very existence," Mard Geer said to the pathetic beings that dared defy him. Soon they would know their place. "Memento Mori!"

With that the spell converged on the two wizards, making a devastating impact. Mard Geer watched, satisfied that he was able to show these humans their place in the last moments of their pathetic lives.

But as the spell cleared he was in for a shock. The two wizards were not, in fact, erased from reality as they should have been. Rather, though still beaten and tired from their long fight, they were very much alive and still there. How was this possible?

Then his eyes found the black marking on the dark-haired mage's arm. So that was it. Silver, even in his death, had finally managed to betray Tartaros. The boy had some demon in him. Something that could only be imparted by the devil slaying magic of Silver Fullbuster. Well, it wouldn't do them any good.

But suddenly a flash of light, fast enough that the distracted Mard Geer was unable to stop it, streaked past him to the book he'd set down momentarily. He turned to see a man with blue hair and a red tattoo on his face holding the treasured book of E.N.D. A commotion then turned his attention back toward the entrance to the room, where a red-haired girl, a blonde, a blue-haired, younger girl, and a black-haired boy who looked like he had some kind of bolts or something on his face came running in.

But what happened next was something Mard Geer had not calculated. Could not have calculated. The man with the blue hair held the book out in front of him.

"Now you will all see the true identity of E.N.D.!" He declared, and then began chanting something that sounded like it came from Zeref's language. Mard Geer was confused. Was he trying to awaken E.N.D.? Didn't he know that E.N.D. couldn't be awakened without magic being abolished?

But as he finished, something even more surprising happened. Smoke started coming out of the pink-haired boy's body. When the smoke subsided, a very different being stood in his place. This one was a few inches taller. His chest a little broader, his muscles slightly better defined. His body was covered in small, impenetrable scales, his eyes, set almost too deep in his face, glowed a fiery orange, and his fingernails extended to talons. He was wreathed in a fire that was black mixed with red, giving off a heat that was intense even to Mard Geer.

 **~~~~~~Erza~~~~~~**

Erza stood staring at Natsu, unable to fully comprehend what she was seeing. She recalled his words to her before. His desperation when he talked about the darkness that lay within him. But even so, even with Jellal's little hints, she could never fully bring herself to believe that darkness was E.N.D., the most powerful, and most evil, demon of the books of Zeref.

But what happened next surprised her even more. Rather than turning his newly awakened wrath on her and the others surrounding him, Natsu turned to Mard Geer, his eyes glowing even brighter with anger as he looked at the demon. Then, in a swift move that their eyes could barely follow, he blinked forward, and Erza barely caught sight of what looked like a fiery sword appear in his hand, slashing down and across the etherious' body as he passed.. It also looked as though Mard Geer became a book, then the book turn swiftly to ashes, which scattered across the floor of the room. All in the span of milliseconds.

"Mard Geer?" The voice came from what used to be the entrance to this place, which no longer needed an entrance because of the destruction that surrounded it. Erza turned to see Kyouka and Sayla, the last surviving demon gates, rushing into the room. They stopped, staring at Natsu.

"What have you done with Mard Geer?" Kyouka hissed.

"You mean that?" Natsu's voice had changed. It was deeper, more powerful, and there was a hint of something bordering on insanity in it. He slowly raised a claw and pointed at the pile of ashes on the floor. "I disposed of it."

"Lies!" Kyoka shrieked. "No human could defeat Mard Geer! Sayla!"

"As you wish." The girl stared at Natsu, and Erza shouted out a warning to watch out for her curse power. But it was already too late. She saw him look up to meet her eyes.

"You will come kneel before us like the scum you are, and apologize to my mistress for lying to her." Sayla said coolly.

Erza watched as Natsu approached, slowly, until he stood before the two demonesses. Sayla looked at him with a haughty smirk, while Kyouka continued to glare. Slowly, Natsu got down on one knee, causing gasps or surprise from everyone, including Erza. She was sure the macro wouldn't work after E.N.D. was just awakened. But there he was, kneeling before the two.

Every eye in the guild was turned to him, no longer concerned so much with the presence of E.N.D. in Natsu as with what Sayla would order him to do now that she had him under her curse power. With the strength he just displayed, he could easily obliterate most of the guild if given the command! She could feel the nervousness from the others as acutely as her own as they watched the scene unfolding before them. Natsu, kneeling slowly on the ground. His mouth opening to speak the words of obeisance that had been demanded of him.

"Did you really think such petty tricks would work on _me?_ " Again there was a slash, so quick that Erza could hardly follow it, and Sayla's head fell, separated from her shoulders. Her demon blood dripped from Natsu's claws as his hand remained extended, now standing in a crouch rather than kneeling as he turned to face Kyouka.

"Impossible…" The raven-haired demon declared as she backed away from him. "No human is this powerful…"

"What makes you think I'm a human?" The words, though spoken quietly, echoed through the area even over the roars of the fighting dragons in the sky far away, and they sent a shiver through Erza. The realization was dawning on her that the evil that Natsu sensed for so long was now emerging, and that she would be unable to do anything to stop him if the power he just displayed was any indication. She watched Kyouka's face register shock, then terror before it disintegrated in black fire that seemed to burn from her insides. Like Mard Geer, her body seemed to become a book, and the book then turn to ashes before her eyes.

Natsu then stood there, unmoving. Erza was unsure of what was going through his mind at the moment. She didn't even know for sure it _was_ his mind. But he had attacked Mard Geer, Sayla, and Kyouka, and he wasn't attacking them. That meant that, no matter how it may appear on the outside, Natsu was still there somewhere.

"Everyone, we have to act now!" Jellal's voice caught her attention, and she turned to the blue-haired mage who she was still torn about. "We have to kill him before E.N.D. fully awakens, or even our combined power may not be enough!"

He started moving as quickly as he finished speaking, and Erza saw Gray rush forward as well. Requipping to her fastest armor, she rushed forward as well, coming between them and Natsu and holding her hands out to halt their progress.

"STOP!" She yelled, making sure they heard her. "This is still Natsu! We can't just kill him!"

"Erza, move out of the way." Jellal said, his eyes stead on her. "I'm not going to ask you to help me. I just need you to move."

"Erza, Natsu isn't who we thought he was." Gray agreed, his new magic that Erza never saw before flaring up. "E.N.D. is the most evil demon Zeref ever created. We need to kill him, or thousands of people will die."

"According to you," Erza retorted. "Who's actually seen E.N.D.? Who's witnessed the atrocities you credit him with? We've known Natsu since we were kids. You really think E.N.D., Zeref's most powerful demon, suddenly became a child just to join our guild and fight dark mages with us?"

"I don't have to think anything," Gray replied. "The evidence is right in front of me."

"Erza." She turned, seeing the pain in Jellal's eyes as he spoke. "You know how much I care about you, but if you don't move out of the way I can't be responsible for what happens."

Erza scoffed. "You mean you will be responsible for what happens," she responded. "But if you're that set on killing Natsu, you'll have to take me with him. I'm not moving for either one of you."

"Erza, please move out of the way. I don't want to hurt you," Gray said from her other side. "We've been friends since we were little children."

"And Natsu's also been our friend for that long. So far all he's done is put an end to the demon guild master of Tartarus, and you want to kill him for that."

"No, I want to kill him because he's E.N.D.," Gray retorted. "And I'm going to, whether you're there or not. I really didn't expect you of all people to protect a demon, Erza."

Erza scowled. There was no way that she was going to back down from this one. So far, the only thing Natsu did was kill an Etherious, and this was despite the terrible dreams he told her about. How did that qualify him as an enemy that must die?

True, she could feel her own body shaking at the sheer force of the magic power this new form emitted. Yes, her long-time friend now looked more like a demon from the gates of hell than a cheerful, fun-loving teen who was too dense for his own good. But they'd all seen Mira in demon form before. Even Freed had a demonic form that his power granted him access to. If there was one thing she'd learned over the years, it was that you never kill somebody for what they were.

But she didn't have anymore time to contemplate the current crisis, as a deep chill suddenly surround her. Gray was already moving forward, focusing his magic on Natsu to attack, but that attack would also encompass her because of her proximity. She saw Jellal begin casting Altairis, the spell that killed Simon back at the tower all those years ago.

She knew she had time to move. She could get out of the way and let the spells hit their intended target. What if they were right? What if E.N.D. really was as evil as legend made him out to be? Was she just throwing away her life to protect something that would be the end of Fairy Tail? The conversations replayed in her mind. Natsu's dreams where he would destroy everything he held dear.

But she couldn't waver. She had to believe this was still Natsu. Why else would he have destroyed Mard Geer? Why would he still refrain from attacking even in the face of the combined assault on him?

Suddenly, just before the attacks converged, an intense, yet somehow comfortable, warmth spread over her. Strong arms wrapped around her from behind, and then she was moving through the air, faster than she would have thought possible. Time seemed to slow for a few minutes as the spells collided, their impacts causing a blast of dark and cold magic to blossom out from the epicenter. Despite the immense speed at which they moved, the fringes of the blast almost caught them. The destructive magic power residue brushed against them, and she shook slightly as she realized that, had she remained where she was, there was no way she would have survived, even in her adamantium armor. She breathed out a small breath, thankful that Natsu had recovered quickly enough to remove her from the blast radius.

The arms that held her pulled away, and she turned to see Natsu with his back to her. The warmth from his flames still enveloped him, and she could still see the talons at the end of his fingers. Then he spoke. His voice was no longer the gentle baritone of a youth just becoming an adult. There was a depth to it of an ageless being, laced with immeasurable power and barely contained rage. The sound sent shivers down her spine, and again the fear threatened to surface.

 _No Erza. This is Natsu, not someone to be afraid of._ She reminded herself as his words reverberated through the broken halls.

"I don't care if you want to attack me, but to think that you would kill your own comrade, Gray, and the woman you profess to love, Jellal… That is unthinkable." His volume escalated as he spoke the last words, the voice becoming a roar that drowned out all other sound and threatened to destroy her eardrums.

Beyond him, she saw Gray blanch in fear. Jellal also looked slightly ashen, but also determined. "It isn't too late," he said, not responding to Natsu but rather addressing the guild. "If we all work together, we can kill E.N.D."

"Or weaken him enough for Mirajane to take over," Gray added, ice gathering around his hands.

Erza stayed behind Natsu, not saying a word as she watched Fairy Tail slowly divide up. Most of the B and C class mages gathered behind Gray, with even Jet, Droy, and Reedus making their way over. Lisanna, Mirajane, Wendy, Carla, and Happy immediately distanced themselves from the group joining Gray and Jellal. Elfman seemed hesitant, but after receiving a glare from both sisters he quickly moved toward their side. Laxus also moved to the side supporting Natsu, perhaps remembering how Natsu still supported him after he betrayed the guild and made everyone fight each other. The Raijinshuu followed Laxus, of course. Gajeel stayed right where he was, not moving toward one side or the other. Juvia, predictably, ran toward 'her Gray-sama's' side. Lucy and Levy remained in the center with Gajeel, none of them moving from their current position. Makarov also remained firmly in the middle. The old man hadn't said a word yet, which was infuriating to Erza. Why wasn't he sticking up for Natsu here? Wasn't Natsu one of 'his children,' just like the rest of them?

 **[[A/N: Reminder/In this timeline Laxus and the others were not nearly killed by anti-magic particles. The Chairman used his archive to determine the person holding the key to unlock FACE/]]**

Cana hesitated before also moving toward the group that refused to attack Natsu, undoubtedly because Gildarts would've done the same. If only Gildarts were here, things would be a lot easier. Even Jellal wouldn't dare stand up to him. But as usual the ace of Fairy Tail was nowhere to be seen. What good was an ace who was never around when you needed an ace up your sleeve anyway?

Then suddenly Natsu turned, and a moment later Erza heard a huge impact on the ground behind them. Without a word he sped off in the direction of the sound, and Erza chased him, ignoring the commotion that was starting behind her. That commotion was caused by none other than 4 dragons, and their respective dragon slayers were now turning to rush to them as well, forgetting the argument that was breaking out between guild members now.

Erza stopped when she came closer to Natsu, for the dragon slayer, still in his demon form, had stopped, falling to his knees next to Igneel. The great dragon looked to be in very bad shape, though Acnologia had departed. They had what appeared to be a private conversation, before Erza heard finally heard the dragon's voice.

Powerful it was, like nothing else she encountered on earthland, save, perhaps, the voice she attributed to E.N.D. when Natsu reprimanded Gray and Jellal. It had a depth to it also, but though it seemed nearly as loud as Natsu's roar previously her ears were not hurt by the sound. Also, for some reason she felt certain that the words she was now listening to were not audible to the rest of the members who remained behind.

"Right now you barely maintain control, and that only because the demon is only partly awakened," Igneel was saying. "You must go, train yourself until you can take E.N.D.'s power and harness it as your own. Only then will you be ready for the final test that awaits you."

"You will also need someone to push you in your training. I trained you long enough to know. You will get stronger by yourself, but not strong enough. You must find someone who is powerful. Someone who is stern. Someone who won't let you slack off while you're training. Only then will you harness the power you'll need in time."

Erza smirked inwardly. She would be perfect for that job. In fact, it was almost as though the dragon were describing her! And, of course, some time away from the guild training with Natsu could be interesting. Her interest in Jellal had been diminishing of late anyway, and with his latest stunt with Gray it dropped to an all time low. She took the opportunity to step forward past the fear that she felt in the presence of the huge creature in front of her.

"I believe I can help with that," she said.

"Are you sure," Igneel, though he was literally starting to fade away before her eyes, asked. "It would mean weeks, even months, in the wilderness alone with Natsu. You should avoid populated areas because the magic you will have to practice is literally capable of destroying cities. You'll have to rely on the land for food. You might get tired of each others' company after a while."

Erza could almost feel her face steaming as she imagined spending months in the wilderness _alone_ with Natsu. Of course they would pack light. Natsu always packed light. But they would have sleeping bags, and if it got cold at night Natsu would gladly let her sleep in his sleeping bag with him. And his fire could come in handy for heating the water when they bathed. She could almost feel the suddenly warm water, fresh from the river. His hands massaged the soapy water along her back, causing shivers to run through her despite the heat. They teased a little as they massaged her sides, slowly venturing closer to her sensitive breasts. "Natsu," she breathed as the soapy hands began to caress her cushiony mounds, slowly approaching her already hard nipples…

"Umm, Erza?" Her eyes snapped open. She hadn't even realized they'd closed, but now everything was back to normal. Well, relatively normal anyway. Happy seemed to have rejoined Natsu, the blue cat sitting on his shoulder as Natsu, no longer E.N.D., stared at her with concern. "Is something wrong?"

"N-no, of course not." She said quickly. "I was just thinking that I must plan a difficult training regimen for you, or you'll never reach the level of power Igneel wants you to." She nodded, forcing her mind from its previous train of thought to the training. The meditating. The magic practice. The sparring. The groping… er, grappling.

 _You've got to stop reading those hentai novels Erza…_ She shook her head, turning back toward the rest of the guild. The dragon slayers were all still staring at where their dragons disappeared. The others seemed to already be back to squabbling.

"Natsu-nii!" Wendy was the first to notice their approach, and she wrapped the dragon slayer in a hug. "

"Hi Wendy," Natsu smiled as he hugged her back. "Sorry to worry you."

"Wendy," Gray's voice was cold behind the girl. "Step away from him."

Erza stared at the dark-haired mage, her eyes hardening as they met his emotionless orbs. "What do you think you're doing Gray?"

"I'm finishing E.N.D. while he's still in this form," Gray replied. "This may be the only chance I get to do this."

Erza felt her anger rising as she leveled a glare at the ice mage. She felt slightly satisfied when he flinched away from her reflexively. "What good do you think killing Natsu is going to do?" She asked. "He's still Natsu, regardless of what else may be a part of him!"

Before Gray could respond, a voice echoed from behind him. "Gray! You don't have to fight Natsu. Just destroy this and he'll die!" Jellal was waving a book in the air. It was the same book Mard Geer had been holding when the fight first started.

"Why don't you destroy it then?" Gray yelled at him, turning to face him.

"It can only be destroyed using magic stronger than Zeref's or devil slaying magic," Jellal answered. "Which means of everyone here, only you can destroy it."

Without another word, Gray turned and sprinted across the room. Before anyone could stop him, he reached Jellal and took the book from him.

"Now to get rid of this." He smirked, his arm turning black as ice formed on his fingers.

Then the book just disappeared from his grasp, as though it had never been there. Erza almost jumped, wondering if Natsu returned to his demon form, but she was sure he never left her side!

That was when a voice spoke from behind her. "I'm taking this with me…" Was all the voice said. She turned quickly to see a somewhat short wizard, looking like he was still in his late teens or maybe early 20s, with short, black hair and onyx eyes like Natsu's. In fact, he kind of looked a little bit like Natsu…

"Zeref!" She heard Natsu exclaim, and she did a double-take. This was the most evil wizard ever to exist? He didn't look like a super powerful immortal who created the strongest demons in the world… He looked like, well, like just another teen. He could've been part of Fairy Tail and nobody would've known the difference!

"Yes Natsu. I'm not here to fight. You still have to grow before we meet in battle, but when we do, I hope you're strong enough…"

Then he turned, a small smirk on his lips as he addressed Jellal. "I thank you for your service. You accomplished what even my incompetent etherious could not."

"Service?" Jellal spat. "I live to destroy you."

"I wonder," Zeref said, still smirking, before he just disappeared from view, leaving everybody shocked and a little quiet.

"Alright everyone." Makarov's voice rang out, stern and clear. "We need to get back to our homes. It's late and we're all tired. We'll meet tomorrow to discuss what to do about the building and everything else."

There were a lot of murmured responses from mages. Some seemed disappointed, others relieved. Erza was a little of both. Part of her was just happy that the confrontation would wait till another day. Still, a large part of her just wanted to get it over with. She was ready to give anyone who wanted Natsu dead a severe talking to. One that would involve fists if they didn't listen to reason. And Gray was due for one anyway. How could he treat Natsu as if he was just another demon from Zeref's books, especially after all the work they did together over the years?!

But her mind was made up when she saw Natsu stumble slowly back toward his little hut in the woods, Happy trailing behind the exhausted dragon slayer. The confrontation could wait for tomorrow. But she was going to go with him, just to make sure he was ok for the night.

She was mildly surprised when she arrived at his house. She'd kind of expected it to be a complete mess. After all, the dragon slayer was renowned for his lack of attention to detail. But surprisingly, the place was actually quite tidy. Well, as tidy as a self-made hut with no proper floors could be. However, she was more surprised when, after rummaging through his drawers and getting some pajamas, he headed back outside.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"I've been sleeping outside since we got back," he replied quietly. "I've got lots of important stuff in there that I don't want destroyed if something happens while I'm asleep."

He started out again, then turned toward her, a serious look in his eyes. "If you're serious about coming with me when I train, then get ready tonight. I'm leaving as soon as the sun starts coming up."

"Tomorrow?" Erza looked at him blankly. "But, what about the meeting?"

"Don't wanna be there," Natsu said plainly. Well, she couldn't really blame him. Not after a good portion of the guild wanted to kill him earlier. "I'm just gonna' leave a note to let them know about my training."

"Well, guess you better get to sleep then," Erza said with a smirk. She debated going back to Fairy Hills for a shower, but decided against it. She'd found Natsu's makeshift shower, though she wasn't sure where the water came from. But it smelled clean, so she assumed the source was just some forest pond or something nearby.

"Plan on it," Natsu said.

"AYE SIR!" The voice came from behind her and made her jump, nearly falling on her face from surprise. She'd forgotten the blue cat was even there. She turned on him with a scowl.

"And you get some sleep too, or there'll be no fish for you tomorrow."

"You're meaner than Lucy," the cat complained as he headed out the door after Natsu.

"I would've thought you'd know that already," Erza retorted with a smirk before heading in for her shower. She felt a small twinge of sadness knowing she would have to leave the guild behind for an indefinite amount of time, but she couldn't help feeling excited. Her life was finally moving forward. It was as though today, long months (for her) after their victory over Jellal at the tower of heaven, her heart was finally moving on from her past. No longer imprisoned by the memories of chains of the past. Not held by some sense of duty to be the 'light' of a mage who chose the path of darkness.

The confusion of her heart was gone, and she could face the future with a clarity her mind never held before.

* * *

And that's a wrap. Thanks for all the likes, follows, and reviews!


	5. Chapter 5

****DISCLAIMER** I don't own Fairy Tail. Mashima does **DISCLAIMER****

 **Ok. First of all, many of you probably noticed that the name of this story changed. Essentially, I changed the story because there were several reviewers who didn't seem to realize that the title was an old phrase that meant something like "hidden vulnerabilities in an otherwise impenetrable defense" and thought it was something less wholesome. So to avoid the confusion that was being thrown on the title, I changed it.**

 **Other than that, nothing much to say. Read and review as always!**

* * *

 **~~~~~~1 Year Later~~~~~~**

Lucy Heartfilia looked out over the games, despondent. Was this really the best Fiore had to offer this year? Really, any mage there would've been absolutely destroyed by even the weakest guilds from the previous year. Even Quatro Cerberus would've dominated the winners.

"COOL! I can't believe you called it!" Jason, her current boss, was super excited about how she predicted the way things would turn out. It really wasn't all that tough, though. It was obvious from the beginning the winners had been throwing matches to try to make people bet against them. Anyone who could tell anything about magic power would know that.

Suddenly a huge magic presence manifested in the tunnel leading into Domus Flau. Lucy recoiled in shock as a hooded figure became visible, heading down the tunnel. Heat radiated from the figure, reaching all the way up to her in the stands, and behind that heat, a magical pressure the likes of which she'd never felt before.

"We have to evacuate!" She cried out, fearful of this unknown person who was breaking in on the crowd was already murmuring as the figure emerged from the tunnel. "I've never felt anyone this strong before!"

Apparently more than just the people in the reporting booth heard her, as panic ensued on all sides. People were jumping up from their seats, clogging aisles and passageways as they hurried to reach an exit. But the arena wasn't built for thousands of people to exit suddenly, and everything was at a standstill. There was no way they'd make it out in time!

"Is this the winning team?" The figure asked, his voice sounding a little… bored? "I'm going to challenge…"

"STOP THIS FOOLISHNESS!" Lucy jumped as another figure came barreling down the tunnel and out, slamming into the hooded figure and pushing him back a couple inches. Her eyes widened as she took in the familiar red hair and custom-made Heart Kreuz armor. They went a notch further when the attack caused the hood to fall from the challenger's face, revealing a shock of messy pink hair and two very unapologetic onyx eyes.

"Oh, you finished your cheesecake already," Natsu commented as Lucy looked on in shock.

"You…" Erza looked at him with shadowed eyes. "You tricked me with cheesecake so you could go challenge the winning team after I told you not to."

At this point, the screaming and scrambling to evacuate had ended, and spectators were all watching the exchange with mouths hanging open. Lucy also found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the scene in front of her. For months she'd looked for information about Natsu and Erza, but always came up empty.

"Whatever," Natsu said. "It's not like you can beat me into submission the way you used to. So let's get on with this challenge!" Fire erupted around his fists.

"I said stop this!" Erza said, her eyes radiating an aura that would've struck fear into Natsu - and the whole guild - only a year ago. "You may have surpassed me in strength, but I have other weapons at my disposal. I'm telling you right now, if you keep going there'll be no sex for a month."

Lucy's jaw dropped at this blunt declaration made without so much as a hint of embarrassment at all the people watching. She felt her cheeks beginning to darken at the implications of Erza's threat, as well as the way that Natsu's fire dissipated as he turned to the redhead in shock.

"A… A whole month?" He stammered. From the angle she was at, Lucy had an excellent view of his eyes, and through them she could see his brain working. Apparently he was having trouble deciding whether the thrill of this grand entrance was worth foregoing the pleasure he appeared accustomed to experiencing.

Then there was a flash of light, and Lucy felt her face turn an even darker red. Erza was no longer wearing her custom Heart Kreuz armor. Rather, she wore what appeared to be a white apron that didn't even fully cover her ample chest from the front, let alone the sides. Below that, Lucy could see red underwear that looked like a borderline thong. She wore no shoes, but rather fishnet style leggings that ran up her legs to her thighs. On her head was a white, wedding-style tiara. Her gauntleted fists, probably the best dressed part of her at the moment, held a large sword that had some letters that Lucy couldn't read from her current position.

"Natsu… Are you really trying to decide if it's worth it?" Her voice was dangerous. Both seductive and unfathomably angry. She could almost hear Natsu's gulp from her current position as his eyes met the brown orbs across from him.

"Of-of course not!" Natsu stammered. If his posture was anything to go by, he was currently wavering between lust and growing fear. "You know how much I love you."

Then, as Lucy and everyone else watched, the nearly-naked Titania approached, slowly closing the distance between herself and the pink-haired man. Then, in a sudden motion, she jumped up, her legs wrapping around his waist and her arms around his neck. Despite their closeness, she spoke in a voice that was loud enough for the whole arena to hear.

"After this fiasco, you're going to have to prove it to me."

The indecision was gone from Natsu's eyes, and Lucy saw a faint blush on his cheeks and possibly a trickle of blood leaking from his nose. "Alright! Let's go back to our hotel then! I'm all fired up!"

Only Erza's lips moved as her legs tightened their hold on Natsu's waist. The words, clearly audible yet again, caused Lucy's face to darken even more. Next to her, she saw Jason break out in a nosebleed. "No. Right here."

"Right here?!" Natsu's face was bright red now as he looked around the arena. "But everyone's watching!"

"You should know by now that one of my deepest fantasies is for you to fuck me in public," every word was still clear as though Erza wanted everyone to know what was happening. "This is the price you pay for trying to trick me." Her hips were gyrating, and Lucy could practically see Natsu's will slipping away as the scarlet-haired temptress leaned down to nibble at his earlobe.

"But… We could get in trouble…" Natsu protested weakly, his arms around her back, supporting the busty beauty that was grinding against him.

"That just makes it more fun," Erza said, unzipping his trousers just enough for his erection to spring free. Before Lucy could see anymore, a sudden half sphere of fire formed around them. The fire was orange mixed with black, and allowed not even a glimpse of what was happening inside.

Still, Lucy quickly looked away and covered her eyes as nosebleeds erupted all around Domus Flau. Even though she couldn't see through the flames and her strong curiosity was screaming at her to see if she could catch a peek, she feared the wrath she would face if she dared to watch the display. She knew Erza well enough to know that she would exact retribution later despite her perverted fantasy.

Once the moans and grunts were finally over, Lucy dared to open her eyes and look back out over the arena. Most of the men were looking rather uncomfortable as they hadn't dared to take care of their urges in this public setting. The sphere of flames was dissipated. Erza was collapsed on top of Natsu, who was now on his back on the ground. Because the knight was still wearing her seduction armor, Lucy could also see that Natsu's dick was still buried in her.

Then Erza's voice reached her, and everyone else in the arena as well. Even though her breathing was labored and her hips wiggled a bit as she spoke, it still sounded dangerous.

"I hope all of you don't think I'll let you get away with watching that… Natsu, now would be a good time."

Suddenly the heat around Lucy increased a hundredfold, and she gasped in surprise and pain at the intensity of it. She closed her eyes against the pain, only opening them again when it finally subsided.

When she gazed out over the arena again her mouth dropped open. Much of Domus Flau itself had been melted, along with the clothes of everyone in the arena. As other people began opening their eyes, shrieks erupted everywhere. People started rushing for the exit, pulling fire blankets or anything they could find to cover up with. In the middle of the arena Erza, now next to Natsu in her standard Heart Kreuz armor, snickered at the commotion.

"In the end I got punished too!" She wailed, searching for something to cover her suddenly naked body.

"Here Lushy!" A pair of red panties fell on the floor at her feet. They were a bit small around the crotch, but still better than nothing. She looked up to see Happy grinning at her from above.

"How long have you been here?" She shrieked at the cat as she pulled the panties on quickly. Then she stopped, feeling rage well up inside her as she realized that the crotch area was completely soaked. "Happy… Where did you get these panties?"

"Oh, I found them on the ground next to Natsu and Erza just now," Happy said with the same grin. "I was going to give them to Erza, but you looked like you needed them more."

Lucy turned white as she hurriedly stripped the panties off before kicking the cat in the face, sending him flying out into the arena. "STUPID CAT!" She yelled, flushing crimson before running from the booth, leaving the panties there on the floor.

 **~~~~~~An hour later~~~~~~**

"So Lucy, how did you come to be in Crocus?"

Lucy sat in one of the best restaurants across from Natsu and Erza. There was still a faint dusting of pink on her cheeks, though the pair across from her didn't seem the least bit perturbed by the earlier events.

"I'm a reporter now," she said somewhat absently. "I work for Sorcerer, so it's only natural I should be here you know."

"What about Fairy Tail though?" Natsu asked, his mouth stuffed with food. Erza promptly hit him on the back of the head.

"Manners," she said, glaring at him briefly. Then she turned back to Lucy. "I'm curious too, though. I know you enjoy your writing and all, but was it really worth leaving Fairy Tail?"

Lucy stared at them for a moment in shock. She could see Natsu forgetting something so important, but Erza? Erza never forgot anything important. She wasn't a blockhead like Natsu, at least.

Then it registered. "Oh, that's right. You guys left before the meeting." She straightened up, steeling herself against the reaction she knew would come. "Fairy Tail has been disbanded."

"WHAT?!" In other circumstances the way they both acted at the same instant, both their mouths dropping open and eyes widening in disbelief, might have been comedic. "But.. why?"

"Nobody knows. Makarov called a guild meeting just to announce he was breaking up the guild. Nobody's seen him since."

"What was he thinking?!" Natsu raged. "Isn't that selfish of him to break up the guild that's home to so many people?!"

"Why didn't you guys keep the guild together?" Erza added, her own eyes registering disbelief and some anger. "You could've reformed under a new master!"

"Everyone just kind of went their own way." Lucy said, looking down at her empty plate. "Anyway, it's not like you can two of you just left to do your own thing without talking to anyone about it. I'm sure they all had their reasons too."

Natsu opened his mouth, but before he could say anything Erza cut in. "You have a point, Lucy. However, I hardly think it's fair to compare Natsu's situation to anyone else's. Half the guild tried to kill him, after all."

Well shit. She hadn't thought about it that way, but if she was honest having half the guild try to kill just might be a little better reason than anyone else could have.

"Anyway," Erza said. "My initial thought was that perhaps the group split over that issue. I hope that is not the case?"

"No," Lucy shook her head. "It didn't even come up. We all just kind of went on our way…"

"Well, I guess there's only one thing to do," Natsu said, a grin on his face. "We'll just have to find everyone and get the guild back together."

"Get the guild back together…" Lucy looked up. "Is that even possible?"

"Sure," Natsu responded. "All we have to do is reform under a new master, like Erza said."

"Who will be the master, though" Lucy wondered aloud.

"Erza, obviously." Natsu replied with a grin. "She's perfect for the job."

"I guess you're right," Lucy said, quietly adding 'I'm not sure if I'll ever think of her the same way again though.'

"Why's that Luce?" Natsu asked, and Lucy jerked her head in his direction. Damn his sensitive hearing!

"Why's what?" Erza asked, her eyes fixed on Natsu with a quizzical expression. "You were the first one to say I should be master."

"No, I'm asking why she'll never think of you the same," Natsu said.

The urge to punch Natsu in the face warred with the urge to turn tail and run as Erza's gaze turned to her, a darkness coming over her eyes. "Is that so?" She asked placidly. "I guess I'll have to punish you more for watching that."

"W-WAIT!" Lucy shrieked. "We couldn't see anything because Natsu blocked it out with his flames anyway!"

This seemed to do nothing to placate Erza. "You will still be punished later," Erza said. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as the knight turned her attention to Natsu. "You… crushed the realization of my fantasy?"

"I didn't want the whole capital to watch us have sex," Natsu retorted. "I figured that way you could feel like you lived out your fantasy without half of Fiore seeing you practically naked."

"Wait," despite the fear she'd just felt a moment ago, Lucy couldn't help being curious. "Surely you could see the fire orb around you."

Erza turned her attention back to the blonde for only a moment. "Natsu recently developed the ability to make his flames transparent. And apparently he also figure out how to make it only one way transparency…" She said before turning her glare back to Natsu.

"What?" Natsu said. "It would've worked if Lucy just kept her mouth shut. You would still have the joy of living out your fantasy without us having to live with half the country watching us fuck."

"You make a good point," Lucy shivered as Erza turned back toward her, eyes promising unlimited pain. "But you still have to make it up to me somehow."

"Sure," Natsu said with a shrug. "You've got lots of fantasies that are less public. Pick one of those and we'll do it tonight."

"You mean like the one where we tie up a friend and make her watch?" Erza was still looking intently at Lucy.

"No," Natsu said flatly. "Anything that doesn't involve other people."

 _I'll really never look at Erza the same again,_ Lucy thought as she trembled beneath the other woman's glare.

"Fine," Erza said after a few very long minutes of silence. "But she will be punished."

Lucy let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Even though punishment was still pending, the forestallment eased her mind a little, if only a little. Perhaps there was even a chance that Erza would forget about it with all the work they had coming up to rebuild Fairy Tail.

"And don't think I'm going to forget about it," Erza said, her eyes still steely as she glared at Lucy.

"Aye ma'am!" Lucy said, sweating profusely again. Well, so much for that idea.

Just then Happy decided to join them. He was carrying something red in his left hand, and Lucy turned white when she started imagining what it could be.

"You guys are so mean," he wailed as he sat down next to Natsu. "You left me at the arena after Lucy kicked me, and Lucy wouldn't even accept my gift…"

"What gift?"

"SHUT UP CAT!"

Lucy glanced fearfully at Erza who spoke at the same moment she yelled at the stupid feline to keep his mouth shut.

"This gift," Lucy's face turned back toward the damn blue cat as his mouth insisted on running again. "She was naked so I gave her this, but after she put it on she kicked me." He held up the red underwear, stretching it out so everyone could see.

Lucy started the motion to kick the dumb cat again but froze midway as a terrifying aura radiated from Erza. She shrunk back as far as she could into her seat, whimpering in fear.

"About that punishment. I shall no longer be able to postpone it," Erza said darkly.

Lucy wanted to protest. Wanted to shout this wasn't her fault. That the stupid cat tricked her into putting the underwear on. But she never got the chance.

 **~~~~~~Several minutes later~~~~~~**

"You're really mean Erza," Happy said as he and Lucy trudged along behind Natsu and Erza. "That hurt a lot."

Erza didn't say anything. After administering the punishment to Lucy and Happy, she'd decided it was time to head to the train station. Originally her plan was to go to Magnolia, but when Lucy mentioned that she knew the location of most of the members they decided to head for Gray and Juvia's location instead. For some reason Natsu was insistent that needed to be their first stop.

Lucy wondered again how she got herself into this mess. Sure, she would be ecstatic to get the guild back together, but she found she was suddenly stuck with two friends and guild mates who apparently had a relationship that was extremely different from when she last saw them.

Then it occurred to her to do what she probably would've started with if it weren't for all the awkwardness surrounding the arena. She quickly cleared her throat before diving into the conversation. "So, what did you guys do this past year?"

"Just training here and there, all over Fiore." Natsu said with a grin.

"Erza was really mean," Happy piped up. "She was working Natsu into the ground trying to get his new magic under control. You should've been there for the first two months. Natsu would come back in the evening and be like 'I can't do this Happy. She's a slave driver.'"

Was it Lucy's imagination, or did she see a hint of pride in Erza's eyes as she 'modestly' said, "Oh come on Happy. Aren't you exaggerating a little?"

Natsu's face went a little white. "No. No he's not," he confirmed, but then his normal smirk returned. "But of course over the course of the year, I got to the point where I could beat Erza. Of course, the first time I accidentally burned her clothes off in the process and…" He was cut off by a sharp elbow to the gut.

"There's no need to speak of that," Erza said, a faint tinge dusting her cheeks.

"You were willing to fuck in front of thousands of people and you're embarrassed about that?!" The words came out before Lucy could stop them.

"Whatever are you talking about Lucy?" Erza asked, staring at the blonde as Happy burst out laughing.

"It's not what you think Lucy," the blue cat said with a smirk. "Erza thought Natsu was trying to 'do something perverted' to her, so she went into rage mode and beat him half to death. Then she raped him while he couldn't move."

"I DID NOT!" There was a swift swing of a sword and Happy went flying high into the air. Erza then settled a bit, coughing into her hand.

"Since the cat has given you the wrong impression, I guess I'd better explain. Yes, I admit that I mistook Natsu's intentions. But after administering the beating, I realized that I was most likely mistaken and wanted to apologize to him. During our… discussion… it came out that we both liked the other very much. So as part of the apology I decided to show him my seduction armor. And of course, I couldn't help wanting to tease him a bit… And that was when Happy came in and started yelling 'RAPIST!' as loud as he could."

Lucy could actually sympathize with Erza, and privately cheered her for delivering the punishment to the blue cat. As fun as Happy could be to have around, he did get annoying sometimes. However, she was ready to hear about something else. "So, did anything else happen?"

"Well," Natsu said after a moment. "There was that one time that I ate the weird mushrooms…"

 **~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~**

Happy ran crying up the side of the mountain to where Erza and Natsu were training.

"Natsu!" He cried as he glimpsed the pink-haired mage sitting on a rock. "Some mean people stole my fish!"

"Is that right?" He noticed Natsu looked really weird. And where was Erza? "I'll get it back for you, Happy."

Happy couldn't help noticing a bunch of weird looking stalks near Natsu. "Umm, Natsu, did you eat those?"

Natsu grinned. "Yup! They messed with my system a bit but I'm fine now!"

Suddenly Erza sprang up from the midst of a patch of tall grass nearby. "What are you talking about Happy? I'm fine!"

"I didn't say anything about you…" Happy felt a few beads of sweat roll down his face. Natsu he could see. But Erza? How in the nine hells had Natsu convinced Erza to eat the mushrooms?!

"Anyway, we must deliver justice for this atrocious misdeed!" Erza said, getting to her feet a little unsteadily.

"Aye," Natsu said, also getting up and swaying slightly.

"Hey Natsu," Erza said. "There's nothing wrong with me, but I kind of feel like putting my hand on your shoulder right now." She did just that, visibly gripping his shoulder to steady herself, and the duo followed Happy as he ran off toward the people that stole his fish.

"You there!" Erza called out as they approached a small group of mages by the fire. "Did you steal a fish from this cat?!"

"We didn't steal anything," one male stepped forward, a small smirk on his lips. "We discovered him in our territory catching our fish, so we just took back what was ours."

"That's not very nice," Natsu said. "Give it back or you'll pay!"

"Who do you think you are? We're mages from -"

"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu didn't wait for them to finish, nor did he hold back much. The resulting attack blew the mages away, and destroyed the entire mountain. Happy cried huge tears as ashes fell off the bones off the fish skeleton in front of them.

"I got them for you Happy!" Natsu said, seeming oblivious to the fact that he totally destroyed the fish.

"Justice has been served," Erza said happily before the pair collapsed to the ground in uncontrollable giggles.

 **~~~~~~Present Time~~~~~~**

"They were so mean!" Happy wailed as he finally descended from his unasked for trip to the sky. Lucy actually felt a little sorry for the feline now. Just a little, of course. Her body was still aching for the punishment Erza inflicted on both of them for the damn cat's stunt with her underwear.

"Oh, and we met Gildarts," Natsu grinned. "Old man's a pushover now."

Erza punched his side as they approached the train station. "Pushover my ass," she said. "He pretty much fought you to a standstill."

"That was just because his damn magic cancellation destroyed all my spells," Natsu glared. "I would've beat him easy otherwise."

"Anyway, he complimented Natsu on how strong he got," Erza said. "And then their packs got mixed up. When we dumped it out later, his pack was just full of dirty magazines…" Was it Lucy's imagination or were her eyes gleaming as she remembered the event?

"Yeah, and then he came charging after us and got all mad," Happy interjected. "He grabbed all the magazines and put them back in the pack and then ran off again."

Lucy finally found her voice. "So that mountain incident _was_ you!" She said. "I saw it in the news, but I didn't think Erza would let you destroy a mountain."

Just then they reached the train station, and the conversation came to a standstill. This wasn't because Lucy was no longer interested in their travels, but rather because Erza was now dragging a struggling Natsu along and into the 'death trap' that awaited him.

And soon they were off to see Juvia and Gray.

* * *

 **And that's the end of that chapter. Lots of questions still to be answered. Has Natsu mastered the power of E.N.D.? Will his training have greater effect on Fairy Tail's future than canon? Will the E.N.D. dilemma be resolved by a simple choice to believe? (I'll give you a hint, not on my watch!). Will the author ever stop writing like this is some TV drama and he's trying to entice you to tune in to the next episode? Find out in later chapters of... Overcoming the Shadows of the Past. (Yeah, title's still a work in progress. Just can't find anything that sums up the theme as quickly and easily).**


End file.
